[Disordered cardiac contractility after clinical death caused by acute blood loss]

The regularities of development of postresuscitation cardiodepression were studied in experiments on outbred male rats resuscitated after 4-min clinical death from acute blood loss. The studies were carried out for the whole organism, isolated isovolumetrically contracting heart, and for the isolated papillary muscle. As a result of acute critical blood loss, the functional reserve of the myocardium dropped and fatigue rapidly developed, progressing to asystole and fibrillation during the maximal exercise. Cardiodepression was expressed most of all during the first day, particularly during the first hours after resuscitation. Later the contractility gradually normalized, and 3 months after resuscitation it did not reliably differ from the control. The disorders involved the relaxation processes most of all.