Abstract
This chapter discusses the effects of creatine phosphate on cultured cardiac cells. Cardiac muscle cells are unique in that they maintain their ability to beat in culture for prolonged periods. The beating of the cells is both characteristic of and dependent upon their environment, which can be rigorously controlled by the culture medium. Thus, if the medium is made hypoxic, the cells stop beating. The response to such an intervention is used as a model of the whole organ under similar conditions. It reports that cardiac cells growing in culture are not irreversibly damaged by prolonged exposure to 100% CO2. The addition of exogenous creatine phosphate (PCr) does not alter the arrhythmic effect produced by 100% CO2 treatment or the arrest or recovery times. Since intracellular PCr is known to be lowered in adriamycin (ADM) treated hearts, as well as other pathological muscle tissues, it is possible that the addition of this compound exogenously restores some minimal level necessary for beating. The chapter also focuses on whether PCr may have clinical application in patients treated with ADM.