The effect of amiloride on the cardiac chronotropic responses to isoproterenol in myocardial aggregate cells in culture.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that amiloride alters the response of cardiac myocytes to isoproterenol. Myocardial cell aggregates were prepared from 7 day-old chick embryos maintained in culture for 72 hrs before study. Isoproterenol, 10-8 M to 10-5 M, significantly (P less than 0.05) increased contractile frequency of myocardial aggregates. The effects of isoproterenol were maximum within 5 min. of exposure and declined thereafter. In the absence of isoproterenol, amiloride, at 10-6 M and 10-7 M produced a transient decrease in contractile frequency while amiloride at 10-5 M produced a significant (P less than 0.05) decrease in contractile frequency. Amiloride significantly (P less than 0.05) increased the effect of isoproterenol on cardiac contractile frequency. There was a greater and more sustained response to isoproterenol in the presence of amiloride. Furthermore, the magnitude of these effects were greater with higher concentrations of amiloride. These data indicate that amiloride accentuates the cardiac chronotropic response to isoproterenol and suggest that, because amiloride inhibits sodium entry in these cells, change in intracellular sodium may be one of the mechanisms mediating the chronotropic action of isoproterenol on the heart.