Postnatal development of inotropic responses to nerve stimulation and tyramine in rat atria

Inotropic responses were measured in isolated rat left atria using an isometric force transducer. In atria from adult rats tyramine administration or field stimulation of intramural cardiac nerves (in the presence of atropine) caused a positive inotropic response which was as great as that obtainable with exogenous noradrenaline. In contrast, atria from newborn animals showed very poor inotropic responses to nerve stimulation or tyramine although they already responded well to noradrenaline. The responses developed progressively with age, reaching adult levels at 3 to 4 weeks of age. It is concluded that the postnatal development of myocardial sympathetic nerves is correlated with a development of the positive inotropic response to sympathetic nerve stimulation or to tyramine.