P1595Increased in vivo perpetuation of whole-heart ventricular arrhythmia in heterozygous Na+/Ca2+-exchanger knockout mice
Authors: Boegeholz N , Knappe V , Pauls P , Nickenig G , Eckardt L , Schrickel J W , Beiert T B 
Published: October 2019

Background

Commonly, innovative antiarrhythmic strategies are derived from single cell studies that frequently yield promising in vitro findings. However, these results may differ on the whole-heart level, since multicellular electrophysiology is characterized by several emergent features. In previous cellular studies, we have identified the Na+/Ca2+-exchanger (NCX) as a promising target for an innovative antiarrhythmic strategy, as NCX upregulation is present in major cardiac diseases (e.g. heart failure) and promotes independently cellular early and late afterdepolarizations (EADs and DADs). Vice versa, we found that genetic and pharmacological NCX inhibition protects against EADs and DADs. To date, it is unknown, whether the concept of NCX inhibition indeed beneficially applies to the whole-heart level. Thus, we here investigate the in vivo inducibility and perpetuation of whole-heart arrhythmia using a heterozygous NCX-knockout mouse (KO) model that is protected against EADs and DADs on the cellular level.

Methods/Results

Programmed electrical right ventricular stimulation (PVS) and burst stimulation were performed in KO (n=22) and wild-type (n=34) mice by an octapolar mouse electrophysiological catheter introduced via the right jugular vein. Inducibility for ventricular tachycardia (VT) during PVS was similar in WT (73.5%) compared to KO (90.0%) (p=0.1707). With burst stimulation, VT inducibility was higher in KO (KO: 68.2%; WT: 32.4%; p=0.0134). During PVS, KO exhibited increased VT perpetuation as reflected in a significantly prolonged mean (in s; KO: 0.89±0.93; WT: 0.39±0.41; p=0.0097) and cumulative VT duration (in s; KO: 19.54±27.98; WT: 4.46±6.35; p=0.0019). Analysis of animals that were inducible for VT consistently yielded similar results. The ventricular refractory period (VRP) (in ms; KO: 15.1±3.5; WT: 18.7±4.1; p=0.0050) and the QTc interval were shortened in KO (in ms; KO: 46.5±5.8; WT: 53.2±5.9; p=0.0001).

Conclusions

As opposed to findings on the single cell level, KO mice exhibited an increased in vivo arrhythmia burden on the whole-heart level during PVS. This mainly resulted from increased perpetuation of artificially induced VTs, since the inducibility of VTs was not significantly increased in KO with PVS. As a mechanistic explanation of these surprising results, we found significantly reduced VRP and QTc durations in KO in line with the previously demonstrated action potential shortening in single KO cardiomyocytes, which promotes the perpetuation of VTs. We conclude that genetic NCX inhibition can protect from proarrhythmic cellular triggers like EADs and DADs that can initiate VT. However, VTs may perpetuate longer in KO most likely due to reduced refractory periods. This finding carries important translational limitations for the antiarrhythmic concept of NCX inhibition and demonstrates that the value of novel innovative strategies needs evaluation on both the cellular and the whole-heart level.

Acknowledgement/Funding

None