[The antiarrhythmic action of the synthetic acetylcholine analog EDIHYP in calcium chloride- and strophanthin-induced heart rhythm disorders].

The experiments on Wistar rats and chinchilla rabbits showed that EDIHYP (5 mg/kg intravenously) completely prevented cardiac fibrillation and mortality in rats with calcium-chloride-induced arrhythmias, (CaCl2-200 mg/kg intravenously). Administration of atropine (0.1 mg/kg, if administered subcutaneously, 30 minutes before the acute experiment) exerts no influence on the drug's antiarrhythmic activity but eliminates its cholinergic component--salivation and lacrimation. When administered in the same dose EDIHYP to a great extent prevents oubaine (strophanthin)-induced arrhythmias in rabbits but fails to influence aconitine-induced arrhythmias. This suggests that EDIHYP's ability of direct or indirect blockade of slow Ca-channels underlies the mechanism of its antiarrhythmic action.