Electrophysiological effects of propafenone on isolated guinea-pig ventricular muscle and sheep Purkinje fibres.

The electrophysiological effects of propafenone on transmembrane potentials were studied in sheep Purkinje fibres and guinea-pig ventricular muscle. In both preparations propafenone decreased the amplitude and Vmax of the action potential and shifted the resting membrane potential to less negative values. In Purkinje fibres, propafenone also slowed the conduction velocity and shortened the action potential duration whereas in ventricular muscle it had no effect on action potential duration. Propafenone also suppressed: the normal automatic mechanism in Purkinje fibres as well as the automaticity induced by BaCl2 and isoprenaline in ventricular muscle fibres with high resting membrane potential (between -75 mV and -85 mV), the abnormal automatic mechanisms, including the slow action potentials induced by BaCl2 and isoprenaline in ventricular muscle and Purkinje fibres depolarized above -55 mV, respectively, and the delayed after-depolarizations induced by ouabain in Purkinje fibres and ventricular muscle. The possible mechanisms responsible for the cardiac effects of propafenone and the therapeutic implications of these electrophysiological effects are discussed.