title: Chronic skeletal muscle ischemia in rats decreases the inducibility of ventricular tachyarrhythmias after myocardial infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic hind-limb ischemia confers cytoprotection after coronary occlusion, but it is unclear whether it ameliorates substrate formation for ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Chronic hind-limb ischemia was generated by femoral artery excision in 50 rats, while 25 animals were sham-operated. Left coronary artery ligation was performed after 3 weeks and infarct size was measured 24 hours thereafter. The inducibility of VTs was assessed by programmed electrical stimulation (PES) 4 weeks post-ligation. A score was assigned, based on protocol stage and tachyarrhythmia duration. Monophasic action potentials (MAP) were recorded prior to and 4 weeks after ligation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The infarct size was smaller (p=0.000079) in the ischemic rats (25.7±2.1%) than in the controls (41.7±2.2%), accompanied by a lower (p=0.029) arrhythmia score (1.05±0.38 versus 2.70±0.68, respectively). The action potential duration (APD) was shorter (p<0.05) in the ischemic rats prior to ligation and remained stable after 4 weeks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chronic hind limb ischemia limits infarct size and decreases inducible ventricular tachyarrhythmias.
authors.affiliation: Second Cardiology Department, Athens Red Cross Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maniotis
authors.forename: Dimitrios G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Tsalikakis
authors.forename: Alexandros T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Tzallas
authors.forename: Varnavas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Varnavas
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kontaras
authors.forename: Chryssoula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glava
authors.forename: Giannis G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Baltogiannis
authors.forename: Apostolos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papalois
authors.forename: Theofilos M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kolettis
authors.forename: Zenon S
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Kyriakides
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006339:Heart Rate; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000098:blood supply*; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000098:blood supply*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000150:complications*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*