Intracellular Na+ activity and positive inotropic effect of sulmazole in guinea pig ventricular myocardium. Comparison with a cardioactive steroid.

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Recent studies suggest that inhibition of Na+,K(+)-ATPase may contribute to the positive inotropic action of the imidazopyridine sulmazole. Therefore, we investigated the effect of sulmazole and its stereoisomers and for comparison the effect of the cardioactive steroid dihydroouabain (DHO) on intracellular Na+ activity by means of Na(+)-sensitive microelectrodes. In the resting papillary muscle of the guinea pig, (+/-)-sulmazole increased intracellular Na+ activity (aiNa) within 15-20 minutes by 0.5 +/- 0.1 (n = 3), 1.3 +/- 0.1 (n = 7), 2.7 +/- 0.2 (n = 6), and 4.9 +/- 0.5 (n = 6) mM at 60, 100, 300, and 1,000 microM, respectively. (+)-Sulmazole was more effective than the racemate; aiNa was increased by 1.2 +/- 0.3, 2.1 +/- 0.3, and 4.0 +/- 0.2 mM at 60, 100, and 300 microM, respectively (n = 2 for each concentration). In the contracting papillary muscle (0.2 Hz), (+)- and (+/-)-sulmazole (600 and 1,000 microM) produced a maximum positive inotropic effect that exceeded that of DHO by 11% and 8%, respectively. As an inotropic agent, (+)-sulmazole was almost twice as potent as the racemate. The maximum direct inotropic effect of (-)-sulmazole (1,000 microM) amounted to only 14% of the DHO maximum and was, in contrast to the racemate and (+)-sulmazole, antagonized by 3 microM carbachol. (-)-Sulmazole did not affect aiNa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)