Parasympathetic control of heart period during early postnatal development in the rat

Basal autonomic control of the heart period (HP) changes considerably during the early postnatal period in the rat. Although studies in the developing animal have examined the ability of the sympathetic branch to decrease HP during physiological challenge, few studies have examined the emerging capabilities of the parasympathetic branch to alter HP during early development. To determine the extent of parasympathetic control of HP in the young rat, we used a modified dive reflex procedure and electrical stimulation of the vagal nerve to examine the range of parasympathetic effects on HP in postnatal day 3-24 rats. Modified dive reflex manipulations produced maximal parasympathetically-mediated HPs that were longer just after birth and at weaning than at intervening ages. Direct vagal nerve stimulation studies revealed significant decreases with age in the HP at maximal vagal activation and in the intrinsic HP. The dynamic range, or difference between minimal and maximal parasympathetic effects on HP was similar across ages when assessed from the results of vagal stimulation. Nerve stimulations also revealed age-independent and relatively linear transfer functions relating parasympathetic stimulation frequency and HP during early life. Therefore, several parameters characterizing parasympathetic control of HP, including the dynamic range and transfer function, remain reasonably stable throughout the early postnatal period in the rat. These data provide a framework delineating the autonomic limits within which cardiac responses operate in the young rat. Knowledge of changes in these limits across time affords a firmer physiological basis for cross-age comparisons of autonomically-mediated cardiac changes.