The spatial and the amplitude-temporal parameters of cardiac body surface potentials were examined in female Wistar rats with experimental pulmonary hypertension during ventricular depolarization. The cardiac body surface potentials have been led from 64 subcutaneous electrodes evenly distributed across the chest surface prior to and 4 weeks after subcutaneous injection of a single dose of monocrotaline (60 mg/kg). Right ventricular hypertrophy and electrophysiological remodeling of the heart developed in rats with experimental pulmonary hypertension in 4 weeks after monocrotaline injection; these changes led to a significant increase in amplitude and temporal characteristics of the cardioelectric field on the body surface in comparison with the initial state.
Keywords: ECG; body surface potential mapping; monocrotaline; pulmonary hypertension; rat.