Original research
Myocardium tissue changes caused by electrical transthoracic discharges in rats
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* Corresponding author: Celso Ferreira celsoferreira.dmed@epm.br
1 Department of Clinical Medicine, Cardiology Division, School of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, SP, Brazil
2 Department of Morphology and Physiology, School of Medicine of ABC, Santo André, SP, Brazil
3 Department of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
International Archives of Medicine 2009, 2:31 doi:10.1186/1755-7682-2-31
Published: 23 October 2009Abstract
Background
Cardiomyocytes cytoarchitecture changes caused by transthoracic countershocks have been focused recently. We aimed to evaluate the effects of electrical discharge application in the mitochondria structure in atrial myocardium of rats.
Methods
An electrical cardioverter was adapted to small rodent animals for our research. Electrical discharges were applied to the precordial region of 30 albino rats: (1) control group - animals that remained on resting period and were afterwards sacrificed; (2) electrical discharge group - animals that remained on resting period, followed by ten electrical discharges of 300 mV and sacrificed, and; (3) electrical post-discharge group - animals that remained on a resting period and received ten electrical discharges like the electrical discharge group, but were sacrificed seven days subsequently. We examined liver, adrenal and left atrium tissue fragments of the three groups.
Results
It was observed in control and post-discharge groups a normal cellular structure aspect with preserved architecture of cardiomyocytes and continuous sarcoplasmic membrane integrity. On the other hand, cardiac muscle fibers with mitochondrial edema and lysis occurred in the discharge group. Glycogen and adrenal lipids were not depleted in all groups.
Conclusion
These data suggest that transthoracic electrical discharges induce mitochondrial injuries in atrial cardiac cells of rats.