Time-dependency of the response to a single vagal stimulus in the rabbit heart

The time-dependency of vagal effects on P-P cycle was studied in rabbits, chosen because of high heart rate, in order to verify the occurrence of this phenomenon already described for animals with lower heart rate. In five rabbits with different resting cardiac cycles, vagal stimuli were delivered randomly. The results indicate that for heart rates higher than 120 beats/min no occurrence of Brown and Eccles' time-dependency was observed. It is evident, however, the different responsiveness of the pacemaker to vagal stimuli delivered at different times of the cardiac cycle. In particular a stimulus given beyond 40-50% of the cardiac cycle does not affect the same but the next cycle.