Characterization of cardiac myosin from rabbit embryos and adult rabbits

1. Ca2+-ATPase of myosin and electrophoretic pattern of light chains of myosin were investigated in cardiac muscles of 22-day-old rabbit embryos, new-born and adult rabbits. 2. Ca2+-ATPase activity was found to decrease during development and in contrast to that of adult rabbit, cardiac myosin prepared from 22-day-old embryos, is stable on exposure to pH 9.5. 3. Myosin from the cardiac muscle of rabbit embryos reveals light chains of both fast and slow types, that from adult animals, however, reveals light chains of the slow type only. 4. These studies suggest that unlike the cardiac muscle of adult rabbit, cardiac muscle of rabbit embryos contains both fast and slow types of myosin.