Electrophysiology and ultrastructure of canine subendocardial Purkinje cells isolated from control and 24-hour infarcted hearts.

Ventricular arrhythmias that accompany myocardial infarction in dogs may be secondary to the altered electrophysiological properties of the subendocardial Purkinje fibers that survive 24 hours after the coronary occlusion. To better understand the ionic mechanisms that underlie the altered electrical activity of these fibers, we have dispersed, using an enzymatic technique, Purkinje cells from the subendocardium of the infarcted ventricle (IZPCs) and compared their electrical and structural properties to Purkinje cells dispersed from fiber strands (SPCs) and from the subendocardium of the noninfarcted ventricle (NZPCs). Ultrastructural analysis of these cells shows that IZPCs contain an increased number of lipid droplets when compared with the SPCs and NZPCs. In addition, transmembrane action potentials of IZPCs have reduced resting potentials, action potential amplitudes, and upstroke velocity and are increased in duration when compared with either SPCs or NZPCs. Input resistance of IZPCs is increased ov...