Heart rate perturbation in the stage 17-27 chick embryo: effect on stroke volume and aortic flow.

Heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), and aortic flow increase linearly between developmental stages 17 and 27, as the embryonic chick heart progresses from a bent tube to a rudimentary four-chambered structure and cardiac mass increases fourfold. We hypothesized that HR perturbation, expressed as percent of intrinsic HR (%HR), would have a developmentally dependent effect on flow and SV. HR was transiently perturbed to 40-250% of intrinsic rate with a 1-mm cooled or heated steel probe applied to the sinus venosus of 81 embryos. Aortic blood velocity, cross-sectional area, and HR were used to calculate flow and SV. At each stage, flow was maximal at intrinsic HR. The %HR vs. SV relationship was linear, inverse, and developmentally dependent. In spite of a tremendous change in ventricular shape, mass, and volume, HR control during development of the preinnervated heart maximizes blood flow to the developing embryo.