Effects of Sodium Selenate Treatment on Altered Responses of Left and Right Atria from Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Experiments were designed to determine whether experimental diabetes alters inotropic and chronotropic effects of adrenergic, adenosinergic, and cholinergic agonists and whether the observed changes are prevented by sodium selenate therapy. Thirty-two rats were divided into four groups of eight subjects each. Diabetes induced by streptozotocin caused significant decreases in isoproterenol-invoked contraction of the left atria with preservation of the right atrial chronotropic responses. The diminished response of the left atrial muscle to isoproterenol did not respond to treatment with sodium selenate. The left atria adenosine-induced direct- and indirect inotropic responses were diminished in the diabetic rats. After treatment with sodium selenate the direct response was completely normalized, but the indirect response was only partially corrected. Adenosine-induced negative chronotropic effects are accompanied by changed responses in diabetic right atria that are corrected after treatment. The carbachol-induced inotropic and chronotropic responses were not altered in tests of the acetylcholine system. We conclude that in diabetic rats, sodium selenate treatment reverses the deficits of adenosine-induced negative inotropic responses of left and right atria, but not those of isoproterenol-induced positive inotropic responses.