title: NASPE young investigator awardee-1990. Complex rhythms resulting from overdrive suppression in electrically stimulated heart cell aggregates.
abstract: Spontaneously beating embryonic chick heart cell aggregates were stimulated with current pulses delivered either as periodic trains, or at a fixed delay after each action potential. Following stimulation at fixed rates faster than the intrinsic rate, there was a transient slowing of the spontaneous rhythm. This response, called overdrive suppression, can lead to a complex evolution of rhythms. During periodic stimulation there is a continuum of dropped beat patterns, and during fixed delay stimulation bursting activity appears. This study provides a conceptual basis for understanding analogous rhythms in the intact heart.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wanzhen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morissette
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brochu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Glass
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shrier
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006321:Heart / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology