A preliminary course of transauricular electrostimulation mitigates impairment of cardiac contractile function in rats with myocardial infarction

Abstract

A course of transauricular electrostimulation (TES) consisting of 10 sessions was administered to rats before the induction of myocardial infarction by Selye's method and to rats that were left intact. In the latter animals, the electrostimulation did not influence cardiac contractile function at rest (as judged by heart rate, developed pressure, and Katz's index), but exerted beneficial chronotropic and inotropic effects during the maximum isometric tension produced by compression of the ascending aorta. In the TES-pretreated rats with a 2-day-old myocardial infarct, cardiac contractile function was depressed significantly less, both at rest and during isometric tension, than in infarcted rats not exposed to TES.

Effect of electroacupuncture on systemic hemodynamics in rats with postinfarction cardiosclerosis

“…Electroacupuncture (EAP) improves the performance of the ischemic heart [13,15]. EAP enhances cardiac tolerance to stressor, hypoxic, and ischemic damage [1,5]. In addition, EAP decreases the ischemic necrosis area [5] and moderates the responsiveness of myocardium [9] and blood vessels [6] to epinephrine.…”