The anti-arrhythmic effect of d-Ala 2, Leu 5, Arg 6-enkephalin and its possible mechanism

We studied antiarrhythmic action of d-Ala 2, Leu 5, Arg 6-enkephalin (dalargin) in experiments on male rats. Dalargin is reported to prevent heart rhythm disturbance and heart electrical stability decrease in experimental coronary occlusion, postinfarction, cardiosclerosis and emotional stress. Dalargin prevents acute myocardial ischaemia-induced increase of cAMP content in blood serum and cardiac muscle, as an indirect feature of its antiadrenergic activity. d-Ala 2, Leu 5, Arg 6-enkephalin leads to a decrease of cAMP content in myocardium and blood plasma, which presumably indicates a decrease of sympathetic tone. The data strongly suggest that cGMP content increase and somatostatin level decrease in cardiac muscle play a significant role in antiarrhythmic action of dalargin.