Aim To investigate the effects of dioscin ( Dio) on rat myocardial contractility. Methods Left ventricular contractile function was measured using the Langendorff non-recirculating mode of isolated rat heart perfusion. Effects of low, middle and high concentra-tion of Dio were investigated by measuring left ventricu-lar systolic pressure ( LVSP ) and left ventricular end diastolic pressure ( LVEDP) . Also, peak rates of rise/fall of left ventricular pressure ( ± dp/dtmax ) of isolated rat heart were calculated. Effects of Dio on intracellu-lar free calcium concentration in rat H9 c2 cells were measured by using the confocal microscopy. Mitochon-drial membrane potential was detected with multifunc-tional microplate reader. Results With 0. 1, 1 μmol · L-1 Dio, LVSP were significantly enhanced from (11. 55 ± 0. 52), (10. 53 ± 0. 28) kPa to (13. 08 ± 0. 72), (12. 53 ±0. 64) kPa(P<0. 01); +dp/dtmax were dramatically increased from ( 0. 38 ± 0. 10 ) , (0. 40 ± 0. 07) kPa·ms-1 to (0. 42 ± 0. 11), (0. 43 ± 0. 02) kPa·ms-1(P<0. 05). With the 10μmol· L-1 Dio, LVSP and + dp/dtmax were both decreased from (12. 13 ± 0. 33) kPa and (0. 42 ± 0. 04) kPa· ms-1 to ( 9. 46 ± 0. 77 ) kPa and ( 0. 24 ± 0. 04 ) kPa ·ms-1 (P <0. 01). With 0. 1, 1, 10 μmol·L-1 Dio, the relative fluorescence intensity of intracellular free calcium concentrations was increased significantly from (16. 62 ± 0. 89) to (21. 48 ± 0. 80), (25. 68 ± 0. 69) and (19. 84 ± 0. 66)(P <0. 01)respectively. 0. 1, 1μmol·L-1 Dio showed no significant effects on the mitochondrial membrane potential of rat H9 c2 cells, while with effects of 10 μmol·L-1 Dio, the ra-tio of JC-1 monomer and J-aggregates was changed from (1. 14 ± 0. 03) to (1. 35 ± 0. 06)(P<0. 01), indica-ting a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane poten-tial. Conclusion Low and middle concentrations of Dio show a positive inotropic effect on isolated rat heart, as the LVSP and + dp/dtmax are enhanced, which may concern with the increase of the intracellu-lar concentration of Ca2+. It will not cause the calcium overload while the intracellular concentration of Ca2+ is increased by low and middle concentration of Dio in the myocytes except high concentration of Dio.

Aim To investigate the antiarrhythmic mechanism of taurine-magnesium coordination com-pound on abnormal sodium current channel ( INa ) in-duced by hypoxia-reoxygenation in ventricular myocytes of rats. Methods Single ventricular myocytes were i-solated from each rat heart using enzymatic dissociation through Langendorff retrograde aortic perfusion. Whole-cell patch clamp was applied in voltage clamp mode to record INa both in normal ventricular myocytes and single ventricular myocytes of arrhythmia induced by hypoxia-reoxygenation. Results The peak density of INa was changed from ( 56. 89 ± 2. 07 ) pA/pF to (35. 05 ± 1. 52) pA/pF( n=6, P <0. 01 vs control) by hypoxia-reoxygenation with the INa I-V curve shifting upward. TMCC(200, 400 μmol·L-1)was able to re-store the reduction caused by H/R to (35. 78 ± 1. 95) pA/pF, (41. 52 ± 0. 86) pA/pF, (n=6,P <0. 01) and (48. 34 ± 0. 99) pA/pF(n=6,P<0. 01) respec-tively, but not at 100 μmol·L-1(n=6, P>0. 05), in a concentration-dependent manner, while amioda-rone restored it to (39. 44 ± 1. 24) pA/pF (n=6,P<0. 01 ) . Both high concentration of TMCC and amioda-rone could shift the I-V curve downward. In addition, TMCC and amiodarone could restore the INa inactivation curve and slow down its inactivation, whereas the acti-vation curves showed no significant differences among groups. Conclusion TMCC(200,400 μmol·L-1) could restore the H/R induced INa reduction and shift the I-V curve downward by inhibiting steady-state inac-tivation, which is suggested to be one of the mecha-nisms of the antiarrhythmic effects of TMCC in hypoxia-reoxygenation model.