Enhancement of Gap Junction Function During Acute Myocardial Infarction Modifies Healing and Reduces Late Ventricular Arrhythmia Susceptibility

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of enhancing gap junction (GJ) coupling during acute myocardial infarction (MI) on the healed infarct scar morphology and late post-MI arrhythmia susceptibility. BACKGROUND: Increased heterogeneity of myocardial scarring after MI is associated with greater arrhythmia susceptibility. We hypothesized that short-term enhancement of GJ coupling during acute MI can produce more homogeneous infarct scars, reducing late susceptibility to post-MI arrhythmias. METHODS: Following arrhythmic characterization of a rat 4-week post-MI model (n = 24), another 27 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to receive rotigaptide to enhance GJ coupling (n = 13) or to saline control (n = 14) by osmotic minipump immediately prior to and for the first 7 days following surgically induced MI. At 4 weeks post-MI, hearts were explanted for ex vivo programmed electrical stimulation (PES) and optical mapping. Heterogeneity of infarct border zone (IBZ) scarring was quantified by histomorphometry. RESULTS: Despite no detectable differences in infarct size at 4 weeks post-MI, rotigaptide-treated hearts had reduced arrhythmia susceptibility during PES (inducibility score for rotigaptide: 2.4 ± 0.8; for control: 5.0 ± 0.6; p = 0.02) and less heterogeneous IBZ scarring (dispersion of IBZ complexity score: rotigaptide: 1.1 ± 0.1; control: 1.4 ± 0.1; p = 0.04), associated with an improvement in IBZ conduction velocity (rotigaptide: 43.1 ± 3.4 cm/s; control: 34.8 ± 2.0 cm/s; p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Enhancement of GJ coupling for only 7 days at the time of acute MI produced more homogeneous IBZ scarring and reduced arrhythmia susceptibility at 4 weeks post-MI. Short-term GJ modulation at the time of MI may represent a novel treatment strategy to modify the healed infarct scar morphology and reduce late post-MI arrhythmic risk.