Verapamil potentiates vagally mediated sinoatrial chronotropic responses in dogs

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 954-957
Author(s):  
Don W. Wallick ◽  
Sherry L. Stuesse ◽  
Frank Valencic ◽  
Richard B. Fratianne

A brief burst of electrical stimuli delivered to the vagus nerve during the cardiac cycle elicits a triphasic cardiac chronotropic response. The cardiac cycle length initially increases, then briefly decreases, and subsequently increases again. We studied the effects of a calcium channel blocking agent, verapamil, on these responses to vagal stimulation during sinoatrial nodal rhythm in anesthetized, open-chest dogs. Verapamil increased the basal cardiac cycle length only slightly; however, the primary cardioinhibition was accentuated approximately 40% (from 396 to 555 ms) by verapamil. Neither the acceleratory phase of this triphasic response nor the secondary cardioinhibition was significantly affected by verapamil. These results indicate that verapamil potentiates the initial action of acetylcholine at the sinoatrial node when the vagus is activated with brief stimuli.

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 1363-1367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don W. Wallick ◽  
Sherry L. Stuesse ◽  
Paul Martin

A brief electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve may elicit a triphasic response comprising (i) an initial prolongation of the same or the next cardiac cycle, (ii) a return of the subsequent cardiac cycle to about the level prior to vagal stimulation, and (iii) a secondary prolongation of cardiac cycle length that lasts several beats. We compared the effects of two calcium channel antagonists, verapamil and nifedipine, on this triphasic response to vagal stimulation in chloralose-anesthetized, open-chest dogs. In the absence of vagal stimulation, nifedipine (doses of 10, 40, and 50 μg/kg for a total dose of 100 μg/kg, i.v.) and verapamil (two doses of 100 μg/kg each, i.v.) increased the cardiac cycle length (A–A interval) by 16% (429 ± 20 to 496 ± 21 ms) and 29% (470 ± 33 to 605 ± 54 ms), respectively. Nifedipine (100 μg/kg total) attenuated the initial vagally mediated prolongation of the A–A interval, from 474 ± 19 to 369 ± 42 ms above the basal A–A interval. Following the initial prolongation of the vagal effect, other A–A intervals were not affected. In contrast, verapamil potentiated the vagally mediated initial prolongation in cardiac cycle length at the first dose administered (100 μg/kg) from 492 ± 17 to 561 ± 14 ms, but other increases in dosages had no further effect. Thus these two calcium channel antagonists have different effects on the sinoatrial chronotropic responses caused by brief vagal stimulation.Key words: autonomic control, parasympathetic, heart, calcium.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 1411-1415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Pace ◽  
Yukitaka Masuda ◽  
Isaac Eisenstein ◽  
Matthew N. Levy

We studied the effects of digoxin on the chronotropic responses of the heart to repetitive bursts of vagal stimulation in chloralose-anesthetized dogs. The frequency of the stimulus bursts was increased linearly with time. Over a certain range of frequencies, the cardiac pacemaker became synchronized with the vagal stimulation in a 1:1 ratio of heart beats to stimulus bursts. Digoxin increased the range of cardiac cycle lengths over which 1:1 synchronization occurred during repetitive vagal stimulation. This increment in the range of synchronization varied directly with the dose of digoxin. Before digoxin was given, the range of cardiac cycle lengths over which synchronization occurred when the vagus nerve was stimulated with 10 pulses per burst was 272 ± 50 (mean ± SE) ms. However, after a cumulative dose of 120 μg/kg−1 digoxin had been given, the range of 1:1 synchronization increased to 396 ± 32 ms. Digoxin did not appear to have a proportionately greater effect on those processes that take place in the phase of the cardiac cycle during which the pacemaker cells are maximally responsive than on those processes that occur in the phase of the cycle during which the pacemaker cells are minimally responsive. Therefore, we conclude that the augmented entrainment induced by digoxin is ascribable to its tendency to enhance the chronotropic response to vagal stimulation.


1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (4) ◽  
pp. H703-H709
Author(s):  
T. Yang ◽  
M. D. Jacobstein ◽  
M. N. Levy

We determined the influence of the "free-running cycle length" (tau FR) on chronotropic responses to one burst of right vagal stimuli per cardiac cycle in anesthetized dogs (tau FR, cycle length that prevailed in absence of right vagal stimulation). We varied tau FR by the following methods: 1) tonic left vagal stimulation in pentobarbital-anesthetized animals; 2) tonic left vagal stimulation plus sinus node cooling in pentobarbital-anesthetized animals; and 3) anesthesia with fentanyl, droperidol, and pentobarbital. When tau FR was less than a critical value [1,019 +/- 60 (SE) ms], right vagal stimulus bursts always had the expected negative chronotropic effect. However, when the tau FR was increased beyond critical value, right vagal stimulus bursts delivered within a specific portion of cardiac cycle actually had a positive chronotropic effect; i.e., cycle lengths diminished to values below tau FR. As tau FR was progressively increased beyond critical value, positive chronotropic response became greater and could be evoked by stimulus bursts delivered within a greater fraction of cardiac cycle. The right vagal stimuli that elicited the maximum positive chronotropic effect were those that were given approximately 235 ms prior to beginning of next atrial depolarization. This critical time probably occurs near the end of the period of phase 4 depolarization of sinus node automatic cells.


1981 ◽  
Vol 241 (6) ◽  
pp. H850-H856 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Stuesse ◽  
D. W. Wallick ◽  
H. Zieske ◽  
M. N. Levy

Sympathetic stimulation both shortens the cardiac cycle and potentiates the cardiac response to vagal stimulation. In the present study the effects of sympathetic stimulation on the chronotropic responses of the heart to brief bursts of vagal stimulation were determined in open-chest anesthetized dogs. The sinoatrial nodal pacemaker cells demonstrate a paradoxical response to repetitive bursts of vagal stimuli over a certain portion of the cardiac cycle. That is, the cardiac cycle length does not increase but actually decreases as the vagal stimulation frequency is raised. Background levels of sympathetic stimulation do not significantly alter the range over which this “paradoxical” response occurs. Sympathetic stimulation decreases the cardiac chronotropic response to short bursts of vagal stimuli regardless of the time in the cardiac cycle that the stimulus is given; however, it does not decrease the time from the minimum vagal chronotropic response to the subsequent atrial depolarization although the total cardiac cycle is shortened. Since sympathetic stimulation shifts the overall temporal relationship between vagal stimulation and pacemaker response, small changes in sympathetic tone may greatly alter the cardiac response to phasic vagal stimulation if the vagal stimulus is given at certain times in the cardiac cycle.


1989 ◽  
Vol 256 (5) ◽  
pp. H1295-H1302
Author(s):  
S. A. Lang ◽  
M. N. Levy

We determined the effects of vagus nerve stimulation on cardiac cycle length and on ventricular contraction and relaxation in 18 chickens anesthetized with pentobarbital. Right vagus stimulation at a constant frequency of 35 Hz prolonged cycle length by 190%, whereas left vagus stimulation at the same frequency increased cycle length by 136%. When one burst of stimuli was delivered to the right vagus nerve each cardiac cycle, but the timing of the stimuli was changed within the cardiac cycle, the response of the avian pacemaker cells varied substantially with the timing of the stimuli. Right and left vagus stimulation at a constant frequency of 20 Hz depressed ventricular contraction by 62 +/- 6 and 52 +/- 6%, respectively, and depressed ventricular relaxation by 56 +/- 7 and 53 +/- 7%, respectively. These results indicate that in the chicken the chronotropic effects of right vagus stimulation are greater than those of left vagus stimulation, whereas right and left vagus stimulation are approximately equipotent on ventricular contraction and relaxation.


1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 1198-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret R. Warner ◽  
Jerod M. Loeb

The beat-by-beat changes in atrioventricular (AV) conduction evoked by constant frequency and phase-coupled vagal stimulation were examined both qualitatively and quantitatively in 13 anesthetized dogs. The effects of pacing cycle length and sympathetic activity on the vagally induced phasic changes in AV conduction were also characterized. When the vagal stimulus interval was nearly equal to the pacing cycle length and the vagal stimulus moved progressively through the cardiac cycle, AV interval oscillated in a rhythmic fashion. The rhythmicity of the vagally induced AV interval oscillations was altered substantially by changes in either the vagal stimulus interval or the pacing cycle length. The vagally induced AV interval oscillations were abolished during phase-coupled vagal stimulation; however, the magnitude of the resultant steady-state AV interval depended on the time relative to the phase of the cardiac cycle that the vagal stimulus was delivered. In the presence or absence of sympathetic stimulation, a vagal stimulus falling approximately 200 ms prior to atrial depolarization evoked the greatest prolongation in AV interval, regardless of the pacing cycle length. Additionally, the effects of combined sympathetic and phase-dependent vagal stimulation on the AV interval were additive. These data confirm that the influence of a vagal stimulus on AV interval can be predicted from the phase in the cardiac cycle that the vagal stimulus is delivered. Moreover, this phase dependency of vagal effects evokes marked qualitative variations in AV interval response patterns when either the vagal stimulus interval or the pacing cycle length is altered.


1986 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica K. Potter ◽  
D. I. McCloskey ◽  
Gillian P. Courtice

1. The effect of ischaemia of the sino-atrial node on cardiac vagal action was studied in anaesthetized dogs. 2. The cut, cardiac end of the right vagus nerve was stimulated with a standard supramaximal stimulus every 10 s. The arterial supply to the sinoatrial node was occluded for periods of 1–3 min during this intermittent vagal stimulation. 3. Vagal action on heart rate was potentiated during ischaemia of the sino-atrial node.


1983 ◽  
Vol 245 (5) ◽  
pp. H721-H724 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Chassaing ◽  
P. Duchene-Marullaz ◽  
M. J. Veyrac

The influence of isoproterenol, norepinephrine, and dopamine on the cardiomoderator effects of moderate vagal stimulation was studied in anesthetized dogs. The drugs were administered at increasing doses in successive perfusions. Stimulation of the vagus nerve, the parameters of which remained constant throughout each experiment, was performed immediately before each sequence of perfusion and after 10-min perfusion. Isoproterenol at 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 microgram X kg-1 X min-1 raised heart rate dose relatedly but did not alter heart rate under vagal stimulation. Thus the amplitude of vagal bradycardic effects increased dose relatedly. Norepinephrine at 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 microgram X kg-1 X min-1 lowered heart rate through reflex hypertension. Heart rate under vagal stimulation remained constant. Thus the effects of vagal stimulation decreased as dose increased, finally becoming null. Dopamine at 0.5, 1, 2.5, and 5 micrograms X kg-1 X min-1 did not significantly alter heart rate, but at 10 and 20 micrograms X kg-1 X min-1, like norepinephrine, it raised blood pressure, causing a reflex fall in heart rate. At all doses, heart rate under vagal stimulation remained stable. Consequently, at the highest doses, the net effects of vagal stimulation were slight. These results suggest the simultaneous involvement of sympathetic-parasympathetic interactions both post- and prejunctionally. In the latter case, different mechanisms of regulation of neurotransmitter release are involved during vagal stimulation according to the sympathomimetic used. With isoproterenol, norepinephrine release seems more particularly affected, whereas with norepinephrine and dopamine, acetylcholine release is apparently inhibited.


1982 ◽  
Vol 242 (1) ◽  
pp. H7-H12 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Stuesse ◽  
M. N. Levy ◽  
H. Zieske

Glucagon accelerates the heart independent of sympathetic nervous system stimulation. The effect of glucagon on the chronotropic responses to repetitive bursts of vagal stimulation was determined in open-chest anesthesized dogs. When the cervical vagi were stimulated at constant frequencies, the change in heart rate was not affected by glucagon administration, i.e., no vagolytic effect caused by glucagon was apparent. Thus glucagon did not alter the reaction of acetylcholine with cardiac postsynaptic receptors. When the vagi were stimulated intermittently with one short burst of vagal stimuli delivered each cardiac cycle, the resultant heart period was dependent on the time of vagal stimulus delivery. Both maximum and minimum cardiac cycle lengths obtained during phasic vagal stimulation were decreased by glucagon. As it has been previously demonstrated that vagal impulses to the heart tend to be clustered during certain times of the cardiac cycle, by accelerating the heart glucagon may shift the cardiac response to vagal stimulation.


1990 ◽  
Vol 259 (2) ◽  
pp. H626-H634
Author(s):  
C. F. Starmer ◽  
V. V. Nesterenko ◽  
F. R. Gilliam ◽  
A. O. Grant

Models of ion channel blockade are frequently validated with observations of ionic currents resulting from electrical or chemical stimulation. Model parameters for some models (modulated receptor hypothesis) cannot be uniquely determined from ionic currents. The time course of ionic currents reflects the activation (fraction of available channels that conduct in the presence of excitation) and availability of channels (the ability of the protein to make a transition to a conducting conformation and where this conformation is not complexed with a drug). In the presence of a channel blocking agent, the voltage dependence of availability appears modified and has been interpreted as evidence that drug-complexed channels exhibit modified transition rates between channel protein conformations. Because blockade and availability both modify ionic currents, their individual contributions to macroscopic conductance cannot be resolved from ionic currents except when constant affinity binding to a bindable site is assumed. Experimental studies of nimodipine block of calcium channels and lidocaine block of sodium channels illustrate these concepts.


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