Antiarrhythmic and electrophysiologic actions of clofilium in experimental canine models

Clofilium was studied in three experimental models. In non-ischemic and chronically infarcted canine hearts, clofilium (0.5-2 mg/kg) produced a dose-dependent increase in electrical ventricular fibrillation threshold (VFT), but prolonged the effective refractory period (ERP) of normal myocardium in only the non-ischemic heart. When chronically infarcted hearts were subjected to programmed electrical stimulation, 1 mg/kg of clofilium inhibited the re-induction of either ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation in 5 of 6 animals and slowed the rate of the induced tachycardia in the sixth. Clofilium, however, failed to alter ventricular refractory periods of normal myocardium at either twice diastolic threshold current (176 +/- 5 ms control vs. 187 +/- 9 ms post-clofilium, P greater than 0.05) or at 10 mA (134 +/- 6 ms control vs. 137 +/- 13 ms post-clofilium, P greater than 0.05). In addition, chronic administration of clofilium (2 mg/kg, i.v., followed by 1 mg/kg every 12 h) was ineffective in decreasing mortality in a canine model of sudden coronary death. Of 10 saline-treated conscious animals subjected to an electrically-induced intimal lesion of the left circumflex coronary artery in the presence of a previous ischemic insult, all 10 died suddenly of ventricular fibrillation within 173 +/- 45 min after current application. Under similar conditions, 7 clofilium-treated animals died suddenly within 249 +/- 88 min (P greater than 0.05) after current application while 3 animals survived (P greater than 0.10). Clofilium did, however, elevate the effective refractory period in these animals (150 +/- 3 ms saline-treated vs. 195 +/- 7 ms clofilium-treated). It is concluded from our data that there is little relationship between clofilium's electrophysiologic actions in normal myocardium and antiarrhythmic effects. Furthermore, simple prolongation of refractoriness in normal non-ischemic myocardium may be insufficient for the prevention of ventricular fibrillation which develops in response to a transient ischemic event superimposed on a chronically injured myocardium.