Use of the chicken heart in a Langendorff preparation.

Hearts isolated from healthy chickens were perfused with oxygenated Krebs-Henseleit buffer. Balloons were inserted into the left ventricle, filled with saline and attached to a pressure transducer for measuring left ventricular pressures. A bipolar electrogram was obtained between the atria and ventricles. Hearts so perfused manifested mechanical alternans for approximately 15 minutes, after which they sustained a regular sinus rhythm without mechanical alternans for at least 60 minutes. By infusing 0.1 ml increments of saline into the balloon located within the ventricle, Frank-Starling curves could be generated. This preparation has potential for use in pharmacologic evaluations.