Phase resetting of spontaneously beating embryonic ventricular heart cell aggregates

The influence of isolated 20-ms duration current pulses on the spontaneous rhythm of embryonic chick ventricular heart cell aggregates was studied. A pulse could either delay or advance the time of occurrence of the next action potential, depending on whether it fell early or late in the cycle. As the stimulus amplitude was increased, the transition from delay to advance occurred over a narrower range of coupling intervals. At low-stimulus amplitudes the transition from delay to advance occurred in a smooth continuous fashion; at medium-stimulus amplitudes the transition was discontinuous; at high-stimulus amplitudes graded action potentials were seen. It was impossible to annihilate spontaneous activity in aggregates with a single stimulus. The phase-resetting response to hyperpolarizing pulses was qualitatively the reverse of that produced by depolarizing pulses. A very high-amplitude depolarizing or hyperpolarizing pulse could produce rapid repetitive activity. Theoretical aspects of these phenomena are discussed.