Comparison of myocardial potassium and thallium flux as studied by tracer methods

Although myocardial scintigraphy with 201thallium is widely applied in humans, the behavior of thallium at the cellular level is still under discussion. We compared the transmembrane fluxes of potassium and thallium in the isolated papillary muscle of guinea pigs. A qualitative conformity exists between potassium and thallium fluxes with respect to heart rate and temperature. Quantative comparison revealed a decreased flux rate of thallium for efflux when compared with potassium. The time dependence of thallium influx indicates that thallium scintigraphy of the myocardium reflects mainly an extracellular distribution.