Experimental studies on the effect of potassium citrate for elective cardiac arrest and a trial of the concomitant use of glucose and insulin.

For the purpose of examining the effect of the elective cardiac arrest on the heart muscle, the isolated Langendorf dog's heart preparation with cross circulation was prepared for analysis of the physiological and histological reaction of the cardiac muscle induced by 30 minutes coronary occlusion with or without cardiac arrest. As the heart muscle is loaded with anoxia during cardiac arrest, glucose and insulin were added to the commonly used agents for cardiac arrest in order to accelerate anaerobic glycolysis. By this process the condition, after reperfusion, was found more stable and the histological changes less serious than when these agents were used alone. When an agent for cardiac arrest was alkalized in order to alleviate the metabolic acidosis during a period of cardiac arrest, the change that resulted was found histologically slight, but a long lasting tachycardia after reperfusion was observed.