Observation Study of Antiarrhythmic Effect of “FuYun”, a Multiherb Prescription for Ventricular Arrhythmias, in Isolated Rat Hearts

Herb medicine, especially multiherb prescriptions with a long history in China, is a cost-effective therapy for many diseases, such as Artemisinine for diarrhea [1,2], Glycyrrhizae for cough [3], and Jude-screen powder (Yupingfeng San) for some respiratory diseases [4,5]. Due to their extensive use and the optimistic therapeutic efficacy and safety, multiherb medicine plays an increasing important role in health maintenance all over the world [6-8], though the exact mechanisms of action of herbal products haven’t been explicit. “FuYun” is a multiherb medicine for heart palpitations, effective and safe. We found it occasionally. Patients with symptomatic premature ventricular constractions(PVCs) who had failed to therapies with currently available conventional antiarrhythmic drugs or had some pro-arrhythmic effects turned to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which had an unexpected effect on inhibition of palpitations. Palpitations, belonging to the domain of TCM, are described as uncomfortable sensations of irregular beats of the heart. Any type of tachyarrhythmias can give rise to palpitations, no matter whether there is an structural heart disease or not. Thus “FuYun” triggered interests to test whether it exhibits any antiarrhythmic effects. The goal of present study is to testified the antiarrhythmic effect of “FuYun” in ouabaininduced arrhythmia in isolated rat hearts and discuss the probable underlying mechanism.