Antioxidants as antiarrhythmic drugs

Experiments on rats and rabbits using models of arrhythmias induced by vasopressin, epinephrine, strophanthin, and CaCl2 showed that antioxidants derived from 1,4-dihydropyridines, dibunol, and alpha-tocopherol possessed antiarrhythmic effects. Administration of these antioxidants decreased the occurrence of extrasystoles, disturbances of atrioventricular conductivity and ventricular fibrillation. These drugs also prevented changes in membrane phospholipid composition, inhibited activation of peroxidation, decreased phospholipase activity, prevented a decrease of Ca2+ ATPase and Ca2+ binding and uptake by sarcoplasmic reticulum, and increased sarcolemmal Na+, K+-ATPase, sarcoplasmic reticulum creatine phosphokinase.