[A method for microscopic detection of the excitation spreading by means of liquid crystals in the frog heart (author's transl)].
Nematic fluid crystals demonstrate in the presence of an electric field a dynamic scattering effect of the incident light. Therefore the question arose if these substances could be able to indicate bioelectric processes too. The blue colored and isolated frog's heart was used as model. The surface of the ventricle was covered by fluid crystals and photographed microscopically. The moment of the flash-light photographs has been marked in the electrocardiogram by a photoelectric method. By these means at the surface of the heart the dynamic scattering could be recorded. The effect switches off in a different degree during the QRS-complex and increases to maximal intensity during the T-wave. In the diastole occurs different relaxation. In the case of isoelectrical or descended ST-interval develops a homogeneous light scattering. There exists typological agreement between dynamic scattering and electrocardiogram. The dynamic scattering effect is bound to structure. It reflects the behaviour of the electric field at the heart's surface. The results are discussed under aspects of electrophysiology, physical chemistry and reflection optics, respectively.
D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D003460:Crystallization; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D008027:Light
Uber die strukturgebundene, mikroskopische Erfassung der Erregungsausbreitung am Froschherzen mit Hilfe flüssiger Kristalle.