Lethal effect of electric fields on isolated ventricular myocytes.
Defibrillator-type shocks may cause electric and contractile dysfunction. In this study, we determined the relationship between probability of lethal injury and electric field intensity (E in isolated rat ventricular myocytes, with emphasis on field orientation and stimulus waveform. This relationship was sigmoidal with irreversible injury for E > 50 V/cm . During both threshold and lethal stimulation, cells were twofold more sensitive to the field when it was applied longitudinally (versus transversally) to the cell major axis. For a given E, the estimated maximum variation of transmembrane potential (Delta V(max)) was greater for longitudinal stimuli, which might account for the greater sensitivity to the field. Cell death, however, occurred at lower maximum Delta V(max) values for transversal shocks. This might be explained by a less steep spatial decay of transmembrane potential predicted for transversal stimulation, which would possibly result in occurrence of electroporation in a larger membrane area. For the same stimulus duration, cells were less sensitive to field-induced injury when shocks were biphasic (versus monophasic). Ours results indicate that, although significant myocyte death may occur in the E range expected during clinical defibrillation, biphasic shocks are less likely to produce irreversible cell injury.
de Oliveira
Pedro Xavier
PX
Departamento de Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computacão (FEEC), Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13084-971 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. pedrox@ceb.unicamp.br
Bassani
Rosana Almada
RA
Bassani
José Wilson Magalhães
JW
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000166:cytology; D008297:Male; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D002118:Calcium