| Abstract: | Occlusion of the left coronary artery in rats provoked ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) within the first 30 min of ischemia leading to death in 20% animals. Methacin (i.v., 100 micrograms/kg) significantly prolonged VT and VF without effects on the survival. Acetylcholine (i.v., 10 micrograms/kg/min) had no influence on VT frequency and severity but prevented VF. Rats from this group survived. The same effect was observed for neostigmine (i.v., 25 micrograms/kg). Nicotine (i.v., 2.5 micrograms/kg/min) prolonged VT episode duration but did not change frequency and severity of VF and survival. Ganglioblockers hexametony and azametony (i.v., both in a dose 500 micrograms/kg) significantly attenuated VT, prevented VF and death of the animals. Thus, cholinotropic drugs may have both antiarrhythmic and proarrhythmogenic effects in early arrhythmias induced by ischemia. |
