Acute administration of fish oil inhibits triggered activity in isolated myocytes from rabbits and patients with heart failure.

Background-Fish oil reduces sudden death in patients with prior myocardial infarction. Sudden death in heart failure may be due to triggered activity based on disturbed calcium handling. We hypothesized that superfusion with ω3-polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3-PUFAs) from fish inhibits triggered activity in heart failure. Methods and Results-Ventricular myocytes were isolated from explanted hearts of rabbits with volume- and pressure-overload-induced heart failure and of patients with end-stage heart failure. Membrane potentials (patch-clamp technique) and intracellular calcium (indo-1 fluorescence) were recorded after 5 minutes of superfusion with Tyrode's solution (control), ω-9 monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid (20 μmol/L), or ω3-PUFAs (docosahexaenoic acid or eicosapentaenoic acid 20 μmol/L). ω3-PUFAs shortened the action potential at low stimulation frequencies and caused an ≈25% decrease in diastolic and systolic calcium (all P