scholarly journals Contraction and Action Potentials of Frog Heart Muscles Soaked in Sucrose Solution

1962 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Van der Kloot ◽  
Nira S. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Cardiac Muscle ◽  
Extracellular Space ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Sucrose Solution ◽  
Extracellular Fluid ◽  
Frog Heart

Isolated auricles or ventricles from the frog continue to contract, either spontaneously or when stimulated, for from 2 to 4 hours after they are placed in isotonic sucrose solution. After the muscles stop contracting in sucrose solution, contractility is partially restored when the muscles are placed in chloride Ringer's. However, contractility is usually not restored if the muscles are placed in sulfate Ringer's. Ventricles soaked in sucrose solution at 4–7°C continue to contract for 12 to 24 hours and during the first few hours in sucrose solution the contractions often are enhanced. Several types of experiment indicate that the sucrose solution does replace the Ringer's in the extracellular space. Auricles and ventricles also continue to conduct action potentials, with an overshoot, for from 30 to 360 minutes after being placed in sucrose solution. Muscles soaked in sucrose until they are inexcitable rapidly recover in chloride Ringer's but often fail to recover in sulfate Ringer's. The results are discussed in relation to theories about the generation of the action potential in cardiac muscle, and the role of the extracellular fluid in contraction.

scholarly journals Propagation of Action Potentials and the Structure of the Nexus in Cardiac Muscle

1965 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 797-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Barr ◽  
M. M. Dewey ◽  
W. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Guinea Pig ◽  
Cardiac Muscle ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Sucrose Solution ◽  
Electrical Coupling ◽  
Intercalated Discs ◽  
Sucrose Gap ◽  
Specialized Structure ◽  
Frog Atrium

The hypothesis that the nexus is a specialized structure allowing current flow between cell interiors is corroborated by concomitant structural changes of the nexus and changes of electrical coupling between cells due to soaking in solutions of abnormal tonicity. Fusiform frog atrial fibers are interconnected by nexuses. The nexuses, desmosomes, and regions of myofibrillar attachment of this muscle are not associated in a manner similar to intercalated discs of guinea pig cardiac muscle. Indeed, nexuses occur wherever cell membranes are closely apposed. Action potentials of frog atrial bundles detected extracellularly across a sucrose gap change from monophasic to diphasic when the gap is shunted by a resistor. This indicates that action potentials are transmitted across the gap when sufficient excitatory current is allowed to flow across the gap. When the sucrose solution in the gap is made hypertonic, propagation past the gap is blocked and the resistance between the cells in the gap increases. Electron micrographs demonstrate that the nexuses of frog atrium and guinea pig ventricle are ruptured by hypertonic solutions.

Role of acetylcholine in induction of repetitive activity in human atrial fibers

1989 ◽  
Vol 256 (1) ◽  
pp. H74-H84
Author(s):  
Z. Y. Hou ◽  
C. I. Lin ◽  
M. Vassalle ◽  
B. N. Chiang ◽  
K. K. Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Muscarinic Receptor ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Oscillatory Potentials ◽  
Contractile Force ◽  
Intracellular Level ◽  
Transmembrane Potentials ◽  
Rebound Increase

The actions of acetylcholine and its interactions with epinephrine were studied in human atrial tissues by recording transmembrane potentials and contractile force. Acetylcholine (0.55-5.5 microM) reduced force, shortened the duration and shifted to more negative values the plateau of action potentials, abolished phase 4 depolarization, and suppressed the activity of spontaneous fibers. During the recovery, often there was a rebound increase in some parameters of the action potential and in force. Epinephrine (0.3-2.8 microM) induced oscillatory potentials and aftercontractions and acetylcholine abolished them. However, during the washout of acetylcholine in the presence of epinephrine, the oscillatory potentials and aftercontractions were larger than before acetylcholine, and repetitive activity was often induced. The inhibitory and excitatory effects of acetylcholine were mimicked by methacholine (5.1 microM) and abolished by atropine (1.5 microM). The postacetylcholine rebound was also potentiated by theophylline (0.6-2 mM) but was not blocked by propranolol (1-3.4 microM), prazosin (1 microM), and diltiazem (0.1 microM). It is concluded that in human atrial fibers acetylcholine has inhibitory as well as excitatory effects that are exaggerated in the presence of epinephrine and are mediated by the activation of the muscarinic receptor. The interaction between acetylcholine and epinephrine involves an antagonism at an intracellular level.

Effect of Several Cations on Transmembrane Potentials of Cardiac Muscle

1956 ◽  
Vol 186 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian F. Hoffman ◽  
E. E. Suckling
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Cardiac Muscle ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Pacemaker Activity ◽  
Transmembrane Potentials ◽  
High K ◽  
Intracellular Microelectrodes ◽  
Simultaneous Decrease ◽  
Low K

The effects of changes in the extracellular concentrations of Ca, K and Mg on the transmembrane resting and action potentials of single fibers of the auricle, ventricle and specialized conducting system of the dog heart have been studied by means of intracellular microelectrodes. With respect to Ca, the three tissues exhibit quite different sensitivities. Changes in concentration of this ion alter the time course of the action potential recorded from auricle and ventricle but have little effect on the action potential configuration of the Purkinje fiber. In the latter tissue, on the other hand, pacemaker activity is most strongly enhanced by Ca depletion and excitability is lost at Ca concentrations permitting normal propagation in papillary muscle. The effect of K on the resting transmembrane potential is dependent on the simultaneous Ca concentration. The interrelationship is such that the depolarizing effect of high K is decreased by elevated Ca and the depolarization produced by low K is diminished by low levels of Ca. Changes in the concentration of Mg have little effect on the transmembrane potentials of cardiac muscle unless the level of Ca is low. Under this condition a simultaneous decrease in Mg gives rise to a marked prolongation of the action potential duration of both auricle and ventricle. Some evidence for the basic similarity of the processes underlying repolarization in these three tissues is presented and it is thought the normally encountered differences in their action potentials may be related to the sensitivity of each tissue to extracellular Ca.

Effect of sodium deficiency of the action potential of the smooth muscle of ureter

1964 ◽  
Vol 206 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makoto Kobayashi ◽  
Hiroshi Irisawa
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Choline Chloride ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Sodium Deficiency ◽  
Repolarization Phase ◽  
Extracellular Sodium

Action potentials of the smooth muscle of cat ureter were studied by using ultramicroelectrodes. Among 193 penetrations, the resting potential averaged 45 mv and the amplitude of action potential 32 mv. In four instances a slight overshoot was recorded. Action potential consisted of a relatively rapid rising phase followed by a slow repolarization phase, and its duration was about 0.3 sec. Effects of sodium deficiency on action potential were studied by using three different sodium substitutes. Both the height and the rising rate of action potential decreased as the concentration of extracellular sodium was reduced, indicating that the action potential of ureter muscle can be explained on the basis of sodium theory. The duration of the action potential was prolonged when sucrose or choline chloride was used as a sodium substitute; on the other hand, it shortened when tris chloride was employed. The essential role of sodium ions in the development of the action potential in ureter muscle is discussed.

scholarly journals On the effects of divalent cations and ethylene glycol-bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate on action potential duration in frog heart.

1978 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Miller ◽  
A Mörchen
Keyword(s):  
Ethylene Glycol ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Calcium Ions ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Divalent Cations ◽  
Potassium Conductance ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Slow Inward Current ◽  
Frog Heart

Resting and action potentials were recorded from superfused strips of frog ventricle. Reducing the bathing calcium concentration ([Ca2+]0) with or without ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (EGTA) prolongs the action potential (AP). The change in the duration of the AP extends over many minutes, but is rapidly reversed by restoring calcium ions. Other changes (e.g., in resting potential and overshoot) are, however, only more slowly reversed. Reducing [Ca2+]0 with 0.2, 2, or 5 mM EGTA produces progressively greater prolongation of AP; maximum values were well in excess of 1 min. This prolongation can be reversed by other divalent cations in EGTA (Mg2+, Sr2+) or Ca-free (Mn2+) solutions, or by acetylcholine. Barium ions increase AP duration in keeping with their known effect on potassium conductance. D600, which blocks the slow inward current in cardiac muscle, is without effect on the action potentials recorded in EGTA solutions, or on the time course and extent of the recovery to normal duration upon restoring calcium ions. It is concluded that divalent cations exert an influence on membrane potassium conductance extracellularly in frog heart. The cell membrane does not become excessively "leaky" in EGTA solutions.

Microelectrode Study of the Resting and Action Potentials of the Cockroach Giant Axon with Special Reference to the Role Played by the Nerve Sheath

1967 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-373
Author(s):  
Y. PICHON ◽  
J. BOISTEL
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Maximum Rate ◽  
Diffusion Processes ◽  
Extracellular Fluid ◽  
Giant Axon ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Giant Axons ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Nerve Cords

1. The use of very fine-tipped and mechanically strong microelectrodes has allowed reliable recordings of resting and action potentials to be made in cockroach giant axons in sheathed and desheathed nerve cords. 2. When the microelectrode was withdrawn from a giant axon in an intact connective the first positive change in the potential from the resting level, was in most cases followed by a negative deflexion to the original zero level, the ‘sheath potential’. The values of this ‘sheath potential’ together with the resting potential, the action potential, the maximum rate of rise and maximum rate of fall of the action potential have been measured in three different salines. 3. In normal saline, resting potentials were lower in sheathed preparations (58·1 ± 55·4 mV.) than in desheathed ones (67·4 ± 6·2 mV.), whereas action potentials were higher in the former (103±5·9 mV.) than in the latter (85·9±4·6 mV.). 4. Elevation of K+ and Ca2+ concentrations in the saline to the haemolymph level resulted in a decrease of resting and action potentials in desheathed cords, to 57·3±5·3 mV. and 36·5±7·6 mV. respectively. No alterations in the membrane potentials were recorded in intact connectives bathed in this saline, the mean resting potential being 55·6±4·2 mV. and the mean action potential 107·9±6·0 mV. Local desheathing of the nerve cord led only to local disturbance of the resting and action potentials, thus indicating that diffusion processes along the extracellular spaces were very slow. 5. The use of a saline in which cation concentrations have been elevated to the extracellular level resulted in normal resting potentials (64·6±3·3 mV.) and action potentials (90·9±7·2 mV.) in desheathed cords, despite the relatively high potassium concentration (17·1 mM./l.). 6. Recordings of the maximum rates of rise and rates of fall showed that there was no significant modification in the shape of the action potential in these different experimental conditions. 7. The values of the ‘sheath potential’ were very variable from one impalement to another and it is suggested that this potential might be related to variations of the microelectrode tip potential bathed in different ionic solutions. 8. The low resting potentials and high action potentials of giant axons in intact nerve cords may result from an excess of inorganic cations in the extracellular fluid.

Effects of Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia with and without Autonomic Nervous System Blockade on Cardiac Monophasic Action Potentials and Effective Refractoriness in Awake Dogs

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Meissner ◽  
Lars Eckardt ◽  
Paulus Kirchhof ◽  
Thomas Weber ◽  
Norbert Rolf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Epidural Anesthesia ◽  
Action Potential Duration ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Monophasic Action Potential ◽  
Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia ◽  
Thoracic Epidural ◽  
Monophasic Action Potentials ◽  
Cycle Lengths

Background The effects of thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) on myocardial repolarization and arrhythmogenicity are only incompletely understood. This is primarily because of the lack of appropriate experimental models. In most of the studies performed thus far, TEA was used in anesthetized animals. Baseline anesthesia itself may have modified the effects of TEA. This study investigates right atrial and ventricular repolarization by recording monophasic action potentials after TEA in awake dogs. The authors hypothesized that an antiarrhythmic role of TEA exists, which may be related to a direct effect of TEA on myocardial repolarization. Methods The hypothesis was tested in an in vivo canine model, in which atrial and ventricular myocardial action potential duration and refractoriness are recorded by means of monophasic action potential catheters. Results Thoracic epidural anesthesia significantly increased ventricular monophasic action potential duration for cycle lengths shorter than 350 ms. Changes in monophasic action potential duration were paralleled by a concomitant prolongation of effective refractory period (ERP) at higher rates so that the ratio of ERP to action potential duration was unaffected. Conclusions This model helps to study the role of TEA on ventricular repolarization and arrhythmogenicity. Because lengthening of repolarization and prolongation of refractoriness may, in some circumstances, be antiarrhythmic, TEA may be protective against generation of ventricular arrhythmias mediated, e.g., by increased sympathetic tone. The results also imply that the beneficial role of TEA might be stronger at the ventricular site as compared with the atrium. At atrial sites there was only a trend toward prolongation of repolarization even at short cycle lengths.

Early transient depletion of extracellular Ca during individual cardiac muscle contractions

1983 ◽  
Vol 244 (3) ◽  
pp. H462-H468 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Bers
Keyword(s):  
Action Potential ◽  
Cardiac Muscle ◽  
Extracellular Space ◽  
Muscle Contractions ◽  
Cardiac Cells ◽  
Papillary Muscles ◽  
Tension Development ◽  
Time Constants ◽  
Recorded Signal ◽  
Direct Activation

Extracellular free [Ca] in rabbit papillary muscles was monitored using double-barreled Ca microelectrodes. These electrodes had tip diameters of 4-12 microns, electrical time constants of 2-5 ms, and electrochemical time constants of less than 30 ms. During individual beats a transient depletion of extracellular Ca (CaO) was recorded. This decrease of [Ca]O begins very early during the action potential, before significant tension development, and reaches a maximum much before the peak of developed tension (T). The depletion of CaO is blocked by CoCl2 or verapamil and enhanced by 10(-8) M isoproterenol or reduction of extracellular Na concentration to 35 mM. The magnitude of this early depletion of CaO increases in parallel with tension as a function of [Ca]O (8.46 +/- 0.98 microM at 0.2 mM CaO, 16.9 +/- 1.6 microM at 0.5 mM CaO, and 44.7 +/- 3.7 microM at 2.0 mM CaO). However the magnitude (in mV) of the recorded signal decreases with increasing [Ca]O and T, suggestive of saturation. The magnitude of this early transient CaO depletion also increases in parallel with the increase of T produced by initiating stimulation from rest (except for the first beat, which may be more dependent on stored Ca). It is probable that the depletions recorded represent Ca influx into cardiac cells from the extracellular space. The magnitude of Ca influx represented by the CaO depletions is difficult to quantitate but may be roughly in the range of Ca entry that would be required for direct activation of the myofilaments.

Mineral Metabolism in Affective Disorders

1965 ◽  
Vol 111 (481) ◽  
pp. 1133-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alec Coppen
Keyword(s):  
Sodium Chloride ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Extracellular Space ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Mineral Metabolism ◽  
Extracellular Fluid ◽  
Sodium Concentration ◽  
Intracellular Concentration ◽  
Physiological Research ◽  
Very High

Physiological research has shown the fundamental importance of electrolytes in the functioning of the cell. According to the ionic theory, the resting and action potentials of nerve and muscle cells depend on potassium, sodium, chloride and other ions having a different concentration inside the cell to the concentration they have in the extracellular fluid. The cell membrane is freely permeable to potassium and chloride, but is much less permeable to sodium, and there is active transport of sodium which keeps the sodium concentration within the cell at about 1/10 of the concentration of sodium in the extracellular space. Because of this uneven distribution of sodium and the presence within the cell of impermeable anions (such as glutamic acid), potassium and chlorine are also unevenly divided between the cell and the extracellular fluid; potassium has a very high intracellular concentration and chlorine a low intracellular concentration compared to their concentration in the extracellular space.

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