Arrhythmogenic effect of androgens on the rat heart

ARGENZIANO, MARIANA; TISCORNIA GISELA; MORETTA ROSALIA; POTILINSKI, CONSTANZA; CASAL LEONARDO; AMORENA CARLOS E; GARCIA GRAS EDUARDO

JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

SPRINGER TOKYO

Lugar: Tokyo; Año: 2017

1880-6546

Background- In most species androgens shorten the cardiac action potential and reduce the risk of afterdepolarizations. Despite its central role as a model for physiological studies the effects of androgens in the rat heart are still inconclusive.Results- We performed electrophysiological studies in perfused rat right ventricle free wall.We observed a correlation between androgenic activity and a propensity to generate ventricular ectopic action potentials. We also found that testosterone treatment increased APD90 while androgenic inhibition increased time to peak and decreased APD90. We identified Kv4.3 and NCX as regulated by androgenic hormones in rat myocardium.Conclusions- We found that, possibly because of the particular ionic channels expressed in the rat myocardium, the action potential responds different to its hormonal environment as those described in other experimental models. Our results indicate that androgenic control of NCX expression plays a key role in determining arrhythmogenicity in the rat heart.