AJP - Cell Physiology, Vol 234, Issue 5 170-C176, Copyright © 1978 by American Physiological Society
Herpes virus infection alters electrical parameters of heart cell aggregates
A. Shrier, A. J. Nahmias and R. L. DeHaan
The spontaneous beat of embryonic heart cell aggregates in culture grew
gradually weaker and stopped about 18 h after inoculation with herpes
simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). Before electrical activity ceased, maximal action
potential upstroke velocity fell to about 20% of control values, whereas
overshoot and plateau duration declined about 50%. Maximal diastolic
potential was reduced by only about 10%. Eighteen hours after viral
inoculation, specific membrane resistance and intercellular coupling were
measured in quiescent aggregates with injected current pulses passed
between two widely spaced intracellular electrodes. These parameters were
unaltered as compared with control aggregates. However, pairs of infected
aggregates brought into contact required 8 h to synchronize their beats;
mock-inoculated aggregates coupled in less than 1 h. It is concluded that
the cell surface alterations caused by HSV-1 infection specifically reduce
both fast and slow inward currents and interfere with the formation of new
nexal junctions.
