To the Editor: We read with interest the article by Ide et al.1 The authors showed that amiodarone protects cardiac myocytes against injury mediated by oxidative stress, and they conclude that this antioxidant action of amiodarone may contribute to the beneficial effects of this drug in patients with ischemic heart disease and heart failure. Although this mechanism may well be active for the ca...

introduction: recombinant human thyroid-stimulating hormone(rhtsh) increases radioactive iodine uptake(raiu) in selected populations, while lithium is used as an adjunct to radioactive iodine (rai) therapy in graves’ disease with low raiu. in this report, both drugs used in combination, overcame low iodine-131 uptake in a graves’ patient. clinical case: a 39-year old female with graves’ disease...

BACKGROUND The effect of a hybrid intravenous and oral prophylactic amiodarone regimen on postcardiothoracic surgery (CTS) atrial fibrillation (AF) is unknown. The impact of active atrial septal pacing on post-CTS AF has not been well characterized. In addition, the effect of using both amiodarone and atrial septal pacing together to prevent atrial fibrillation is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS...

Amiodarone is a widely used and potent antiarrhythmic agent that is metabolized to desethylamiodarone. Both amiodarone and its metabolite possess antiarrhythmic effect, and both compounds can contribute to toxic side effects. Here, we compare the effect of amiodarone and desethylamiodarone on mitochondrial energy metabolism, membrane potential, and permeability transition and on mitochondria-re...

Amiodarone is used in treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Therapeutic use of amiodarone is limited by its side effects, including pulmonary toxicity. Human Placenta Extract (HPE) contains a variety of bio-active substances. Thus, the present study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the protective effects of HPE on the structural lung changes induced by amiodarone using stereological methods. Spragu...

Amiodarone has been shown to affect cell membrane physicochemical properties, and it may produce a state of cellular hypothyroidism. Because the sarcolemmal Na(+)-K+ pump is sensitive to changes in cell membrane properties and thyroid status, we examined whether amiodarone affected Na(+)-K+ pump function. We measured Na(+)-K+ pump current (Ip) using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique in singl...

BACKGROUND Amiodarone chlorhydrate is a diiodated benzofuran derivative used to treat a variety of cardiac rhythm abnormalities. The use of amiodarone is associated with ultrastructural changes affecting body tissues, but its effect on the ultrastructure of the heart has not yet been fully elucidated. METHODS The aim of this study is to test the adverse effects of amiodarone administration on...

The interrelationships between serum levels of amiodarone, desethylamiodarone, and reverse T3, and changes in the corrected QT interval (delta QTc) were examined in 22 patients during long-term treatment with amiodarone. At 1, 3, and 6 months of follow-up, the correlation coefficient between serum levels of amiodarone or desethylamiodarone and reverse T3 ranged from 0.01 to -0.2 (p greater than...

I studied the effect of amiodarone, a cationic amphiphilic drug, on the cytokine release and protein kinase C (PKC) activity of mouse alveolar macrophages. In addition, I examined the relationship between amiodarone and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) with respect to the cytokine release. The decrease in cell number caused by amiodarone was depressed by pretreatment of the macrophages with EPA for ...

BACKGROUND Apamin sensitive potassium current (I KAS), carried by the type 2 small conductance Ca(2+)-activated potassium (SK2) channels, plays an important role in post-shock action potential duration (APD) shortening and recurrent spontaneous ventricular fibrillation (VF) in failing ventricles. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that amiodarone inhibits I KAS in human embryonic kidney 293 (HE...