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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Exposure to Secondhand Smoke and Arrhythmogenic Cardiac Alternans in a Mouse Model.

Authors: Wang, Zhen; Wang, Lianguo; Tapa, Srinivas; Pinkerton, Kent E; Chen, Chao-Yin; Ripplinger, Crystal M

Published In Environ Health Perspect, (2018 12)

Abstract: Epidemiological evidence suggests that a majority of deaths attributed to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure are cardiovascular related. However, to our knowledge, the impact of SHS on cardiac electrophysiology, [Formula: see text] handling, and arrhythmia risk has not been studied.The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of an environmentally relevant concentration of SHS on cardiac electrophysiology and indicators of arrhythmia.Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to SHS [total suspended particles (THS): [Formula: see text], nicotine: [Formula: see text], carbon monoxide: [Formula: see text], or filtered air (FA) for 4, 8, or 12 wk ([Formula: see text]]. Hearts were excised and Langendorff perfused for dual optical mapping with voltage- and [Formula: see text]-sensitive dyes.At slow pacing rates, SHS exposure did not alter baseline electrophysiological parameters. With increasing pacing frequency, action potential duration (APD), and intracellular [Formula: see text] alternans magnitude progressively increased in all groups. At 4 and 8 wk, there were no statistical differences in APD or [Formula: see text] alternans magnitude between SHS and FA groups. At 12 wk, both APD and [Formula: see text] alternans magnitude were significantly increased in the SHS compared to FA group ([Formula: see text]). SHS exposure did not impact the time constant of [Formula: see text] transient decay ([Formula: see text]) at any exposure time point. At 12 wk exposure, the recovery of [Formula: see text] transient amplitude with premature stimuli was slightly (but nonsignificantly) delayed in SHS compared to FA hearts, suggesting that [Formula: see text] release via ryanodine receptors may be impaired.In male mice, chronic exposure to SHS at levels relevant to social situations in humans increased their susceptibility to cardiac alternans, a known precursor to ventricular arrhythmia. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3664.

PubMed ID: 30675795 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Action Potentials; Animals; Arrhythmias, Cardiac/physiopathology*; Calcium/metabolism; Carbon Monoxide/toxicity; Cardiac Pacing, Artificial; Electrocardiography; Heart/physiopathology*; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Nicotine/toxicity; Particulate Matter/toxicity; Perfusion; Tobacco Smoke Pollution/adverse effects*; Ventricular Fibrillation/metabolism; Ventricular Fibrillation/physiopathology; Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging

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