Carotid baroreceptor stimulation prevents arrhythmias induced by acute myocardial infarction through autonomic modulation.

: Electrical carotid baroreceptor stimulation (CBS) has shown therapeutic potential for resistant hypertension and heart failure by resetting autonomic nervous system, but the impacts on arrhythmias remains unclear. This study evaluated the effects of CBS on ventricular electrophysiological properties in normal dog heart and arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In the acute protocol, anesthetized open chest dogs were exposed to 1 hour left anterior descending coronary occlusion as AMI model. Dogs were received either sham treatment (Control group, n = 8) or CBS (CBS group, n = 8), started 1 hour before AMI. CBS resulted in pronounced prolongation of ventricular effective refractory period and reduction of the maximum action potential duration restitution slope (from 0.85 ± 0.15 in the baseline state to 0.67 ± 0.09 at the end of 1 hour, P < 0.05) before AMI. Number of premature ventricular contractions (277 ± 168 in the Control group vs. 103 ± 84 in the CBS group, P < 0.05) and episodes of ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation (7 ± 3 in the Control group vs. 3 ± 2 in the CBS group, P < 0.05) was decreased compared with the control group during AMI. CBS buffered low-frequency/high-frequency ratio raise during AMI. Ischemic size was not affected by CBS. CBS may have a beneficial impact on ventricular arrhythmias induced by AMI through modulation of autonomic tone.