Effects of collateral circulation on electrophysiological properties during the acute phase of canine myocardial infarction.

To investigate the effect of collateral circulation on the electrophysiological properties of the acutely ischemic myocardium, acute myocardial infarction was produced in the canine heart by coronary artery occlusion alone, and by coronary artery occlusion plus embolization with vinyl latex. Multiple bipolar electrodes for stimulation or for recording electrograms were placed on the subepicardial layer and the subendocardial layer to examine the time course of changes in excitability threshold, effective refractory period, and conduction time. Soon after coronary occlusion plus embolization, electrophysiological properties of the ischemic subepicardium became severely and almost uniformly damaged and showed no recognizable recovery of electrical activities, whereas transient deterioration and subsequent recovery of the electrophysiological properties were observed after coronary occlusion alone. On the other hand, the subendocardium was much less affected electrophysiologically by either coronary occlusion alone or coronary occlusion plus embolization. These results indicate that collateral circulation plays an important role in the recovery from electrophysiological abnormalities in the ischemic subepicardium caused by acute myocardial ischemia, but has little effect on the electrophysiological properties of the ischemic subendocardium.