Arrest and recovery of the embryonic rat heart in mineral acid acidosis

✍ Scribed by Hall, E. K.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1955
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 873 KB
• Volume: 129
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1401290208

✦ Synopsis

The effects of acidosis on the heart have been studied since the early work of Kronecker (1878), of Klug (1879), and of Gaskell (1880), and have been of interest alike to the physiologist and the clinician. I n general, it has been observed that acidosis results in decreased amplitude of contraction with ultimate arrest; from these effects however the heart may recover.

I n a previous series of experiments (Hall, '51, '54), the intrinsic contractility of the tubular stage of the embryonic ("nerveless") rat heart and its segments was investigated, and a gradient in the rate of contraction was demonstrated, with the sinus venosus beating the most rapidly, and the atrium, the left ventricle, the right ventricle, and the conus following in that order.

These experiments, however, were performed in a simple Ringer solution in which no attempt was made to control pH, which ranged from 7.8 to 8.3. The results were considered valid, however, on the basis that, in preliminary experimentation, variations in pH seemed to have little effect on the contraction rate of the embryonic heart and its fragments.