Cardiac arrhythmias are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in many developed countries. Despite intensive investigation, the cellular mechanisms for most cardiac arrhythmias have not been clearly established. As a consequence, drug therapy for most forms of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias...

Although alternans of action potential duration (APD) is a robust feature of the rapidly paced canine ventricle, currently available ionic models of cardiac myocytes do not recreate this phenomenon. To address this problem, we developed a new ionic model using formulations of currents based on previ...

In this paper, we report on ultrasonically actuated silicon thin microprobes that successfully penetrated canine cardiac tissue in vitro, and recorded the electrophysiological signals from multiple sites simultaneously within the heart wall. The penetration force--maximum force encountered by the pr...

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a condition characterized by prolongation of ventricular repolarization and is manifested clinically by lengthening of the QT interval on the surface ECG. Whereas inherited forms of LQTS associated with mutations in the genes that encode ion channel proteins are identified...

A series of related new models for the local dynamics of cardiac tissue is introduced. The models are based on a simple memory-like quantity that is used to determine the relationship among the durations and amplitudes of the stimulated action potentials. The first of these models produces period-do...

In dogs and in humans, potassium channels formed by ether-a-go-go-related gene 1 protein ERG1 (KCNH2) and KCNQ1 alpha-subunits, in association with KCNE beta-subunits, play a role in normal repolarization and may contribute to abnormal repolarization associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS). The mole...

Introduction: Methods and Results: Conclusion: A colony of inbred German shepherd dogs with inherited ventricular arrhythmias has been established.The inward rectifier (IK1), the slow delayed rectifier (IKs), and the transient outward current (I(to)) were recorded from epicardial myocytes, and Ito w...

Previous modeling studies have suggested that the rapid component of the delayed rectifier (I(Kr)) may contribute importantly to action potential dynamics during tachycardia. To test this idea experimentally, I(Kr) was measured as the E-4031-sensitive current in isolated canine endocardial myocytes ...

Suppression of electrical alternans may be antiarrhythmic. Our previous computer simulations have suggested that increasing the rapid component of the delayed rectifier K(+) current (I(Kr)) suppresses alternans. To test this hypothesis, I(Kr) in isolated canine ventricular myocytes was increased by ...

Repolarization alternans, a beat-to-beat alternation in action potential duration, has been putatively linked to the onset of cardiac reentry. Anti-alternans control strategies can eliminate alternans in individual cells by exploiting the rate dependence of action potential duration. The same approa...

Alternation in the duration of consecutive cardiac action potentials (electrical alternans) may precipitate conduction block and the onset of arrhythmias. Consequently, suppression of alternans using properly timed premature stimuli may be antiarrhythmic. To determine the extent to which alternans c...

We present details of a novel bioelectric interface formed by placing microfabricated probes into insect during metamorphic growth cycles. The inserted microprobes emerge with the insect where the development of tissue around the electronics during the pupal development allows mechanically stable an...

To test whether hyperkalemia suppresses ventricular fibrillation (VF) by reducing the slope of the action potential duration (APD) restitution relation, we determined the effects of the extracellular K(+) concentration (K(+)](o)) (KCl] = 2.7-12 mM) on the restitution of APD and maximum upstroke velo...

We have shown previously that verapamil reduces the slope of the action potential duration (APD) restitution relation, suppresses APD alternans and converts ventricular fibrillation (VF) into a periodic rhythm. To determine whether these effects result primarily from reduction of the APD restitution...

Ventricular arrhythmias and the proclivity for sudden death have been identified in German shepherd dogs. This disorder is inherited, and affected animals can be consistently produced from an established colony. The arrhythmias are most prevalent in young dogs between 22 and 26 weeks of age, with de...

A perspective on systems containing many action potential waves that, individually, are prone to spiral wave breakup is proposed. The perspective is based on two quantities, 'predator' and 'prey,' which we define as the fraction of the system in the excited state and in the excitable but unexcited s...

Background: Hypothesis: Animals: Methods: Results: Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Lidocaine is most frequently used to treat ventricular arrhythmias. However, lidocaine may have an antiarrhythmic effect for certain supraventricular arrhythmias.We hypothesized that lidocaine would be effective ...

Objectives: Background: Methods: Results: Conclusion: The age-dependence of the development of ventricular arrhythmias was studied in German shepherd dogs with inherited ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death.A colony of German shepherd dogs has been established that exhibit inherited ventricular ...

The relationships between key features of the cardiac electrical activity, such as electrical restitution, discordant alternans, wavebreak, and reentry, and the onset of ventricular tachyarrhythmias have been characterized extensively under the condition of constant rapid pacing. However, it is unli...

1. The transient outward potassium current (Ito) is reduced in canine epicardial myocytes during the acute stage of infection with Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas' disease). Sympathetic nerve terminals are also destroyed during the acute stage of this disease. To test whether the reduction of Ito is relat...