Sannajust F. Protective effects of I(1)- antihypertensive agent moxonidine against neurogenic cardiac arrhythmias in halothane-anesthetized rabbits. J Pharmacol Exp Therap 2000;293:929–938

Numerous studies have addressed the antihypertensive proper-ties of I1-imidazoline receptor agonists such as moxonidine, but very few authors examined their cardiac antiarrhythmic potency. Due to the important role of the sympathetic nervous system in the genesis of neurogenic cardiac arrhythmias, we investigated the antiarrhythmic effects of moxonidine and compared them to those of propranolol in an experimental model of neurogenic arrhyth-mias. Chronic bipolar electrodes were implanted within the pos-terior hypothalamus of six halothane-anesthetized rabbits. Every 15 days, after three 10-min-interval control electrical stimulations, we compared the effects of randomized i.v. administrations of moxonidine (25 mg/kg), propranolol (0.5 mg/kg), and saline (0.9% NaCl) on mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and ECG during 2.5 h with six stimulations every 20 min. We observed that