Prolonged ventricular refractoriness and action potential duration after beta-adrenoreceptor blockade in the dog heart in situ.

We studied the effects of three different beta-adrenoreceptor-blocking drugs (atenolol, acebutolol, and propranolol) on the duration of monophasic action potentials and refractoriness of the right ventricular myocardium in closed-chest dogs. Pentobarbital anesthesia, which is known to increase the sympathetic tone, was used. Monophasic action potential recordings were obtained by the suction electrode technique, and refractoriness was measured by means of programmed electrical stimulation. A stepwise decrease in stimulation intervals from 350 to 300, 260, and 230 ms caused a progressive decrease in refractoriness as well as in the duration of the monophasic action potential. Intravenous injections of atenolol 0.5 mg/kg, acebutolol 2.0 mg/kg, and propranolol 0.5 mg/kg after pretreatment with atropine each increased the times for 50 and 90% repolarization of the monophasic action potential at each stimulation interval. The effective and the functional refractory periods paralleled the changes in the action potential duration in all experiments. We conclude that beta-adrenoreceptor blockade in the presence of adrenergic receptor stimulation prolongs ventricular refractoriness and action potential duration, and that the presence or absence of cardiac selectivity or slight intrinsic sympathomimetic activity plays no role in this process. These results suggest that if the antiarrhythmic action of beta-blocking drugs is due to prolongation of ventricular refractoriness, all types of these drugs may be expected to be equally effective as therapeutic agents.