Nervous mechanisms in ventricular arrhythmias induced by calcium chloride in rats.

OPERATION of a nervous mechanism in the genesis of cardiac arrhythmias secondary to the injection of calcium chloride was suggested by the observation that electrical sympathetic stimulation consistently induced ventricular arrhythmias only when calcium chloride was given simultaneously. Insight into the problem was obtained when sympatholytic and other autonomic blocking drugs were reported to prevent ventricular flutter and fibrillation induced by standardized doses of calcium chloride. Further studies on the involved mechanisms seemed to be in order, since the suspected importance of the central nervous system has not been fully determined.