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The study aimed at the simultaneous determination of the transmural and apicobasal differences in the repolarization timing and the comparison of the contributions of these two repolarization gradients to the development of the body surface T wave potentials in animals with the single heart ventricle (fishes and amphibians). Unipolar potentials were measured on the body surface, epicardium and in the intramural (subepicardial, Epi; midmyocardial; and subendocardial, Endo) ventricular layers of 9 pike and 8 frogs. Activation times, repolarization times and activation-recovery intervals were determined. A transmural gradient in repolarization durations in frogs (Endo>Epi, P<0.024) corresponds to the gradient in repolarization times. No significant transmural difference in repolarization duration is observed in pike that produces a repolarization sequence from Endo to Epi (Endo

Our study compared the contributions of activation sequence and local repolarization durations distribution in the organization of epicardial repolarization in animals with fast (rabbit) and slow (frog) myocardial activation under sinus rhythm. Activation times, repolarization times and activation-recovery intervals (ARI) were obtained from ventricular epicardial unipolar electrograms recorded in 13 Chinchilla rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and 10 frogs (Rana temporaria). In frogs, depolarization travels from the atrioventricular ring radially. ARIs increased progressively from the apex to the middle portion and finally to the base (502+/-75, 557+/-73, 606+/-79 ms, respectively; P<0.01). In rabbits, depolarization spread from two epicardial breakthroughs with the duration of epicardial activation being lower than that in frogs (17+/-3 vs. 44+/-18 ms; P<0.001). ARI durations were 120+/-37, 143+/-45, and 163+/-40 ms in the left ventricular apex, left, and right ventricular bases, respectively (P<0.05). In both species, repolarization sequence was directed from apex to base according to the ARI distribution with dispersion of repolarization being higher than that of activation (P<0.001). Thus, excitation spread sequence and velocity per se do not play a crucial role in the formation of ventricular epicardial repolarization pattern, but the chief factor governing repolarization sequences is the distribution of local repolarization durations.

The avian cardiovascular system is of special interest because avian hearts are relatively larger than mammalian hearts, and activation of ventricular myocardium in birds has a "flash" pattern. Systolic time intervals and indices of myocardial contractility were examined in anaesthetized open-chest chickens by polycardiography, including synchronous recordings of electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram, and apex cardiogram. The asynchronous contraction time, isometric contraction time, pre-ejection period and ejection time were 26 +/- 3 (Mean +/- SD), 21 +/- 9, 47 +/- 12, and 83 +/- 23 ms, respectively, for heart rates of 260 +/- 57 bpm. The myocardial tension index, isometric contraction index and the pre-ejection period/ejection time ratio were 0.39 +/- 0.11, 0.42 +/- 0.10, and 0.54 +/- 0.14, respectively. A "flash" pattern of ventricular myocardial depolarization causes more rapid excitation and as a consequence shorter asynchronous contraction time of relatively larger chicken hearts compared with rabbit hearts. Inverse relation (P < 0.05) of the asynchronous contraction time to the heart rate in chickens is probably associated with the specific activation pattern of avian ventricles. Establishment of the values of systolic time intervals will facilitate a better understanding of cardiac function in birds. The obtained results are discussed in comparison with the rabbit. The indices calculated from the systolic time intervals show disadvantageous contractile function of chicken heart compared to rabbit heart.