Piperazine protects the rat heart against sudden cardiac death from barium chloride-induced ventricular fibrillation.

Abstract

Fifteen of 20 Wistar albino rats were treated with various doses of the anthelmintic agent piperazine citrate (15, 30, and 60 mg/kg body weight). All 20 rats were subsequently given barium chloride, 20 mg/kg. The 5 rats (25%) that did not receive piperazine citrate developed ventricular fibrillations after barium chloride was administered to them, via one of the external jugular veins, and died shortly thereafter. The remaining 75% of the rats were fully protected by all the doses of piperazine citrate employed for the study. Barium chloride did not produce any dysrhythmic phenomenon in the piperazine-protected rats. Conversely, sinus rhythm was maintained in the electrocardiogram of all the rats, with every P wave followed by a normal QRS-T complex. This may portend a novel application for an old drug.