Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of Physiology logoLink to The Journal of Physiology
. 1980 Jul;304:503–518. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1980.sp013339

Optical signals from early embryonic chick heart stained with potential sensitive dyes: evidence for electrical activity.

S Fujii, A Hirota, K Kamino
PMCID: PMC1282945  PMID: 6160238

Abstract

1. Using an optical method for monitoring membrane potential, spontaneous electrical activity in the very early embryonic chick heart at the 7-9 somite stages was measured. 2. Spontaneous absorption signals from the 7-8 somite embryonic chick hearts stained with a potential sensitive merocyanine-oxazolone dye were demonstrated. The signals were observed also when a merocyanine-rhodanine dye was used. These signals were identified as spontaneous electrical activity in the embryonic heart cells. 3. The action spectrum in absorption of the merocyanine-oxazolone dye was triphasic in early embryonic chick heart with an increase in transmittance from 750 to 700, a decrease from 700 to 600, and an increase from 600 to 525 nm. 4. The magnitude of the signal was about 10(-3) of the resting intensity at 675 nm, with the merocyanine-oxazolone dye. The spontaneous absorption signals had a signal-to-noise ratio of about 10, respectively. 5. The absorption signals were markedly depressed by a higher external K+-concentration, however, were not affected by tetrodotoxin (TTX). 6. The results indicate that spontaneous electrical activity is generated at the 7-9 somite developmental stage before the initiation of heartbeat.

Full text

PDF
503

Images in this article

512Fig. 6
on p.512

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cohen L. B., Salzberg B. M., Davila H. V., Ross W. N., Landowne D., Waggoner A. S., Wang C. H. Changes in axon fluorescence during activity: molecular probes of membrane potential. J Membr Biol. 1974;19(1):1–36. doi: 10.1007/BF01869968. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cohen L. B., Salzberg B. M. Optical measurement of membrane potential. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol. 1978;83:35–88. doi: 10.1007/3-540-08907-1_2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hirota A., Fujii S., Kamino K. Optical monitoring of spontaneous electrical activity of 8-somite embryonic chick heart. Jpn J Physiol. 1979;29(5):635–639. doi: 10.2170/jjphysiol.29.635. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Irisawa H. Comparative physiology of the cardiac pacemaker mechanism. Physiol Rev. 1978 Apr;58(2):461–498. doi: 10.1152/physrev.1978.58.2.461. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Lieberman M., Paes de Carvalho A. The Electrophysiological Organization of the Embryonic Chick Heart. J Gen Physiol. 1965 Nov 1;49(2):351–363. doi: 10.1085/jgp.49.2.351. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Morad M., Salama G. Optical probes of membrane potential in heart muscle. J Physiol. 1979 Jul;292:267–295. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1979.sp012850. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ross W. N., Reichardt L. F. Species-specific effects on the optical signals of voltage-sensitive dyes. J Membr Biol. 1979 Aug;48(4):343–356. doi: 10.1007/BF01869445. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ross W. N., Salzberg B. M., Cohen L. B., Grinvald A., Davila H. V., Waggoner A. S., Wang C. H. Changes in absorption, fluorescence, dichroism, and Birefringence in stained giant axons: : optical measurement of membrane potential. J Membr Biol. 1977 May 6;33(1-2):141–183. doi: 10.1007/BF01869514. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Salama G., Morad M. Merocyanine 540 as an optical probe of transmembrane electrical activity in the heart. Science. 1976 Feb 6;191(4226):485–487. doi: 10.1126/science.191.4226.485. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Salzberg B. M., Grinvald A., Cohen L. B., Davila H. V., Ross W. N. Optical recording of neuronal activity in an invertebrate central nervous system: simultaneous monitoring of several neurons. J Neurophysiol. 1977 Nov;40(6):1281–1291. doi: 10.1152/jn.1977.40.6.1281. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sperelakis N., Shigenobu K. Changes in membrane properties of chick embryonic hearts during development. J Gen Physiol. 1972 Oct;60(4):430–453. doi: 10.1085/jgp.60.4.430. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Stalsberg H., DeHaan R. L. The precardiac areas and formation of the tubular heart in the chick embryo. Dev Biol. 1969 Feb;19(2):128–159. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(69)90052-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Waggoner A. S., Grinvald A. Mechanisms of rapid optical changes of potential sensitive dyes. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1977 Dec 30;303:217–241. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Waggoner A. Optical probes of membrane potential. J Membr Biol. 1976 Jun 30;27(4):317–334. doi: 10.1007/BF01869143. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Physiology are provided here courtesy of The Physiological Society

RESOURCES