Differences in electrical and mechanical recovery from ischemic heart arrest and cardioplegia

The course of recovery of heart activity [assessed by heart rate, atrioventricular (AV) conduction time, monophasic action potentials, contractile force, and perfusion rate] from hypothermic ischemic arrest was studied on isolated perfused rat hearts. The effect of control ischemic arrest was compared with various cardioplegic protective formulations based on high K+ content. During control hypothermic ischemia (20 degrees C), the heart activity extinguished only gradually, action potentials were biphasic, AV conduction was extremely prolonged, and contractions were slow and relatively strong. On reperfusion (37 degrees C), the recovery of electrical activity was almost instantaneous and normalized within 2 min, whereas the contractile force remained substantially depressed. In contrast, K+-containing cardioplegic solutions stopped the heart within several cycles. Postarrest recovery was delayed and transitorily associated with severe arrhythmias (AV block, repetitive afterdepolarizations and oscillations during elevated plateau, and ventricular fibrillation). Nevertheless, the action potentials as well as the contractile force virtually normalized in 10-15 min. Procaine-containing cardioplegic solutions were ineffective in preventing the onset of postarrest reperfusion arrhythmias, whereas addition of nifedipine to the K+-containing cardioplegic solutions largely prevented these arrhythmias, and contractile force was further improved by high concentrations of glucose. The data indicate that postarrest electrical and mechanical recovery do not recover in parallel. Furthermore, high concentrations of calcium antagonist and glucose preserve the electrical and mechanical properties of the cardiac muscle during periods of cardiac arrest.