ACTION OF VARIOUS DAMAGING AGENTS ON MYOCARDIAL POTASSIUM

摘要

The experiments described show that certain damaging procedures (bone fractures, forced muscular exercise, spinal cord section, forced immobilization) increase the level of potassium in the myocardium in rats, whereas others (hemorrhage, formalin injection, fasting) are ineffective in this respect. The rise in K concentration in the heart after forced restraint is not inhibited by adrenalectomy or hypophysectomy. These observations and the fact that there is no correlation between the damaging effect of the various procedures and their ability to increase the potassium content of the heart suggest the possibility that the phenomenon is not related to nonspecific stress but to the specific experimental procedures. If the animals are immobilized 17 hours every day for 8 days, the last period of restraint is ineffective in raising the potassium concentration in the heart.