Free radicals enhance Na+/Ca2+ exchange in ventricular myocytes.

Oxygen-derived free radicals (OFR) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of intracellular Ca2+ overload and the arrhythmias that characterize cardiac reperfusion. These arrhythmias may in large part be due to activation of the pathological transient inward current (ITI). However, the identity of the ITI generated by OFR is uncertain. We previously found that H2O2, an OFR-generating compound, markedly stimulated the ITI elicited by brief caffeine pulses in patch-clamped guinea pig ventricular myocytes. In the present study, using patch-clamped rabbit ventricular myocytes loaded with the Ca(2+)-sensitive indicator fura 2, we have further characterized this ITI and have identified its major component to be Na+/Ca2+ exchange based on its dependence on extracellular Na+ and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release, its sensitivity to Ni2+, and the effects of its inhibition on relaxation. The effect on ITI was not unique to H2O2, because another free radical-generating system, xanthine + xanthine oxidase, produced a similar response. We hypothesize that enhancement of Na+/Ca2+ exchange by OFR during reperfusion, when intracellular Na+ is elevated, may promote intracellular Ca2+ overload and triggered arrhythmias.