Behaviorally conditioned changes in atrio-ventricular transmission in awake dog.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of behaviorally conditioned changes in autonomic activity on atrio-ventricular (AV) transmission in dog. To produce consistent activation of the cardiac nerves in the awake animal (n = 7), a classical appetitive conditioning paradigm was used. A conditioning trial consisted of a 30 s control period followed by one of two differing situations: (1) a 60-s conditional stimulus (CS+) tone wherein food (i.e. 'UCS' or unconditioned stimulus) was given during the last 30 s; or (2) at 30-s discriminative stimulus (CS-) tone which was never followed by food reward. Eight of each type trial were given daily until a stereotypic cardiovascular response was developed for the CS+ but not the CS-. The hemodynamic conditional response (i.e. 'CR', the response to the CS+) consisted of a moderate tachycardia (+14.5%, P less than or equal to 0.05), a small pressor response (+6.7%, P less than or equal to 0.01), and a moderate increase in the first time derivative of left ventricular pressure (+14.9%, P less than or equal to 0.01) reflecting an increase in inotropic state. The unconditional response (i.e., 'UCR', the response to the food reward) consisted of a substantial increase in HR (25.7%, P less than or equal to 0.01) above CR values while left ventricular pressure (LVP) and d(LVP)/dt increased 5.0% and 10.0% (P less than or equal to 0.01 for both) above their CR values. The effect of the conditioned changes in neural activity on the AV node was observed by pacing the atrium from 110 to 180 bpm during the first 15 s of each trial period (i.e. control, CS+, UCS). The discrepancy between the atrial pace rate and the transmitted ventricular rate is expressed as a 'mean difference score' and serves as an index of the fidelity of the AV transmission process: the smaller the difference, the closer a 1:1 ratio of atrial vs ventricular beats is approached. The relatively large mean difference score for the control periods (46.0 +/- 9 bpm) indicates that the paced atrial impulse did not faithfully precede ventricular contraction during these periods. The mean difference significantly decreased (34.6%, P less than or equal to 0.05) during the CS+, and approached an almost 1:1 ratio (75.6% decrease from CS+ values, P less than or equal to 0.01) during food delivery. beta-Adrenergic blockade (propranolol, 1 mg/kg, i.v.) eliminated the changes in mean difference during the CS+ but not during food delivery. There were no statistically significant physiological changes during CS-.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)