Figure 8.

Effect of increasing extracellular potassium in AL cardioplegia on return of cardiac output, time to first beat and stroke volume after 1 and 2 h arrest at 32–33°C in the isolated working rat heart [Adapted from Sloots and Dobson (2010)]. (A) Percentage recovery of cardiac output in following 2 h arrest at 32–33°C. ⁺AL (5.9 mM K⁺) p < 0.01 (One-Way analysis of variance) compared with AL (3, 10, 16 mM K⁺) and 16 mM K⁺ alone. ⁺⁺AL (5.9 mM K⁺) p < 0.01 (One-Way analysis of variance) compared with AL (3 mM K⁺); p < 0.05 (repeated measures) compared with AL (3,16 mM K⁺) and 16 mM K⁺ alone. ^*AL (10 mM K⁺) p < 0.01 (repeated measures) compared with AL (3 mM K⁺). (B) Relationship between the time to first beat at reanimation after 1 or 2 h arrest and the concentration of potassium in AL cardioplegia solution (5.9, 10, and 16 mM K⁺). (C) Relationship between stroke volume and increasing concentrations of potassium in AL cardioplegia solution (5.9, 10, and 16 mM K⁺) at 60 min reperfusion after 1 and 2 h arrest.