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The effects of ouabain on isolated atria of the ground squirrel; comparison with rat and rabbit atria

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Summary

Simultaneous measurements of membrane potentials and contractile tension were obtained from isolated atria of ground squirrels, rabbits and rats during exposure to ouabain.

At 31°C, the spontaneously beating atria of the ground squirrel were more sensitive to the arrhythmic effects of ouabain than were atria from the other two species. The concentration of ouabain which produced arrhythmias in the ground squirrel, rabbit and rat atria within an exposure period of 100 min were 3·10−7 M, 2·10−6 M and 8·10−5 M respectively. Membrane potentials in the ground-squirrel atria were unchanged in the presence of ouabain, although the force of atrial contractions was augmented. The rabbit and rat atria, on the other hand, showed a progressive decline in the duration, rising velocity and height of their action potentials, and these changes became most significant just before the appearance of arrhythmias. A positive inotropic effect was also noted in these species during treatment with ouabain.

At 15°C, ouabain (2·10−5 M) prevented the increase in size of the action potential which normally occurs in the ground-squirrel atria when they are cooled, and also accentuated the fall in level of the resting membrane potential. These changes resulted in arrest of the squirrel atria at 15°C in the presence of ouabain. In a normal medium the ground-squirrel atria continue to beat at temperatures near 0°C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. From the Department of Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Alejandro Illanes & Jean M. Marshall

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  1. Alejandro Illanes
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  2. Jean M. Marshall
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With 4 Figures in the Text

Dedicated to Professor Otto Krayer with the best wishes of the authors.

Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation. Permanent address: Department of Pharmacology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.

Supported by Research Grant HE-05702 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.

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Illanes, A., Marshall, J.M. The effects of ouabain on isolated atria of the ground squirrel; comparison with rat and rabbit atria. Naunyn - Schmiedebergs Arch 248, 15–26 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00247056

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00247056

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