Effect of tumor necrosis factor—α on ventricular arrhythmias in rats with acute myocardial infarction in vivo.doc

Effect of tumor necrosis factor—α on ventricular arrhythmias in rats with acute myocardial infarction in vivo BACKGROUND： Acute myocardial infarction （AMI） is an acute cardiovascular emergency. This study was undertaken to assess the effect of tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α） on ventricular arrhythmias induced by AMI in rats in vivo. METHODS： Two hundred and forty male Wistar rats were randomized into a sham-operation group， an AMI group， and a recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor：Fc fusion protein（rhTNFR：Fc） group. Acute anterior wall myocardial infarction was produced in the AMI group by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery （LAD）， and there was no ligation but operation in the sham-operation group. The rhTNFR：Fc group was treated with rhTNFR：Fc（10 mg/kg）， a TNF-α antagonist， 24 hours before LAD ligation. The spontaneous and induced programmed electrical stimulation ventricular arrhythmias were recorded at baseline and 10 minutes， 20 minutes， 30 minutes， 60 minutes， 3 hours， 6 hours and 12 hours after ligation. At the same time the protein and mRNA expression levels of TNF-α among different groups were detected by histochemistry and real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. RESULTS： Expression of TNF-α increased markedly from 10 minutes after infarction， peaked at 20-30 minutes， and returned to baseline gradually in the AMI group and rhTNFR：Fc group. The time-windows of spontaneous and induced ventricular arrhythmias were similar. Compared with the AMI group， the rhTNFR：Fc group showed a lesser expression of TNF-α protein and a lower incidence of ventricular arrhythmias （P0.05）. There was no obvious change in the sham-operation group. CONCLUSION： The expression of TNF-α induced by AMI could contribute to the onset of ventricular arrhythmias. KEY WORDS： Acute myocardial infarction； Tumor necrosis factor-α； Ventricular arrhythmia； Recombinant human tumor necrosis factor receptor： Fc fusion protein （rhTNFR： Fc） World J Emerg