Dietary lipid intake and myocardial electrophysiology

We studied the effect of a fat-free diet on the cardiac electrophysiology of rats. Fourteen 2-week-old rats were maintained on a fat-free diet and 12 rats had a 5% soybean oil supplement to their diet. The rats were killed after 6 weeks and the hearts mounted on a Langendorff chamber. Atrioventricular (A-V) block was induced. Myocardial strength-duration (S-D) and strength-interval (S-I) curves were determined. A significant depletion of linoleic acid and elevation of palmitoleic, stearic, and oleic acids was found in the hearts obtained from rats on fat-free diet as compared with the hearts obtained from the rats on oil-supplemented diets. Hearts obtained from rats who had had the oil supplement had a shorter refractory period and an increased threshold for excitation; therefore, these hearts should be less vulnerable to cardiac dysrhythmias. Both S-D and S-I curves best fitted a logarithmic relationship. The intercepts and slopes of these curves were significantly different in the two groups. There were significant correlations between myocardial fatty acid composition (stearate and linoleate in particular) and the different electrophysiological parameters.