The determinants of repolarization in human atrium are poorly understood, and many discrepancies between basic research and clinical observations remain unexplained. This thesis presents a series of studies aimed: (1) to understand factors determining the occurrence of atrial arrhythmias; (2) to evaluate cellular mechanisms of drug actions on arrhythmias; (3) to determine ionic mechanisms controlling atrial repolarization. To achieve these goals we used approaches at three different levels: the whole animal level (with a mapping system), the cellular level (with microelectrode techniques), and the ionic level (with whole-cell patch-clamp techniques). Several antiarrhythmic agents have been used as pharmacological probes to study the mechanisms of drug action in arrhythmias, to assess the properties of desirable drug actions, and to explore the characteristics of drug-channel interactions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.28958 |
Date | January 1994 |
Creators | Wang, Zhiguo, 1959- |
Publisher | McGill University |
Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Format | application/pdf |
Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics.) |
Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
Relation | alephsysno: 001440943, proquestno: NN05812, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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