Effects of taurine on the electrical and mechanical activities of embryonic chick heart

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiko Sawamura ◽  
Nick Sperelakis ◽  
Junichi Azuma ◽  
Susumu Kishimoto

The effect of taurine (2-aminoethanesulphonic acid) on myocardial slow action potentials (APs) and accompanying contractions was examined in isolated perfused chick hearts and reaggregated cultured cells. Isoproterenol (ISO), histamine (HIS), or tetraethylammonium (TEA) induced slow APs and contractions in hearts whose fast Na+ channels had been inactivated by elevated K+. Taurine (10 mM) not only failed to induce slow APs, but actually decreased ISO (10−8 M), HIS (10−4 M), or TEA (10 mM) induced slow APs and contractions transiently (about 30s –2 min after the addition of taurine). The properties of the slow APs recovered to control levels by 7–13 min after the addition of the taurine; at this time, there was an increase in developed tension of the contraction accompanying the slow APs. These results suggest that the positive inotropic action of taurine is not mediated through an increase in the slow inward Ca2+ current. However, the transient depression of Ca2+-dependent slow APs by taurine probably explains the transient negative inotropic effect of taurine.

1988 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Kamino ◽  
H Komuro ◽  
T Sakai ◽  
A Hirota

Pacemaking areas in the early embryonic chick hearts were quantitatively assessed using simultaneous multiple-site optical recordings of spontaneous action potentials. The measuring system with a 10- X 10- or a 12 X 12-element photodiode array had a spatial resolution of 15-30 microns. Spontaneous action potential-related optical signals were recorded simultaneously from multiple contiguous regions in the area in which the pacemaker site was located in seven- to nine-somite embryonic hearts stained with a voltage-sensitive merocyanine-rhodanine dye (NK 2761). In the seven- to early eight-somite embryonic hearts, the location of the pacemaking area is not uniquely determined, and as development proceeds to the nine-somite stage, the pacemaking area becomes confined to the left pre-atrial tissue. Analysis of the simultaneous multiple-site optical recordings showed that the pacemaking area was basically circular in shape in the later eight- to nine-somite embryonic hearts. An elliptical shape also was observed at the seven- to early eight-somite stages of development. The size of the pacemaking area was estimated to be approximately 1,200-3,000 micron2. We suggest that the pacemaking area is composed of approximately 60-150 cells, and that the pacemaking area remains at a relatively constant size throughout the seven- to nine-somite stages. It is thus proposed that a population of pacemaking cells, rather than a single cell, serves as a rhythm generator in the embryonic chick heart.


1965 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvyn Lieberman ◽  
Antonio Paes de Carvalho

Both intracellular and surface electrodes were employed to record electrical activity from embryonic chick hearts between the ages of 3 and 20 days. Cells from the sinus venosus, sinoatrial (SA) valves, atrium, atrioventricular (AV) ring, and ventricle were localized and characterized on the basis of shape, amplitude, rise time, and duration of transmembrane potentials. The differences in transmembrane potentials from these various regions provided the basis for a hypothesis concerned with the distribution of pacemaker potentiality and one related to the origin of the His-Purkinje system. Action potentials recorded along the entire embryonic AV ring were comparable to those of the adult rabbit AV nodal cells in both configuration and sequence of activation and were thus categorized into three functional regions (AN, N, NH). Histological sections of 7 and 14 day hearts demonstrated muscular continuity between the right atrium and ventricle across the muscular AV valve.


1966 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hugo Paff ◽  
Robert Joseph Boucek ◽  
Thorne Parsons Glander

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