Effects of tetrodotoxin and imipramine on the cardiac responses to nicotine in isolated, blood-perfused canine heart preparations.

The effects of nicotine on the sinus rate and atrial or left ventricular contractile force were investigated in the isolated, blood-perfused dog right atrium and left ventricle. Nicotine (3-300 nmol) in the right atrium induced dose-dependent negative followed by positive chronotropic and inotropic responses, whereas nicotine caused only a positive inotropic response in the left ventricle. The negative responses to nicotine were blocked by atropine, hexamethonium (C6), and tetrodotoxin (TTX). The positive effects of nicotine were abolished by propranolol and C6. TTX significantly inhibited the positive responses to nicotine by about 50% in the atrial preparation and totally suppressed them in the left ventricle. Imipramine inhibited the positive cardiac responses to nicotine and tyramine, but potentiated the responses to noradrenaline (NA) in atrial and ventricular preparations. These results suggest that (a) nicotine induces negative and positive cardiac effects mediated by parasympathetic ganglionic nicotinic receptors and presynaptic nicotinic receptors of the postganglionic sympathetic nerves, respectively, in the dog heart; (b) there are few parasympathetic ganglionic cells in the dog left ventricle; (c) the positive cardiac responses to nicotine are caused by both TTX-sensitive and TTX-insensitive NA release mechanisms; and (d) imipramine inhibits the positive cardiac responses to nicotine at the presynaptic nicotinic receptor sites of the postganglionic sympathetic nerves.