In vitro differentiation of a fast Na+ conductance in embryonic heart cell aggregates.

Aggregates of 3-day chick cardiac myocytes, after 2 days of gyration culture, lack a tetrodotoxin-sensitive, fast Na+ conductance. After 2--3 additional days in vitro these aggregates were shown by three different criteria to have developed such a conductance mechanism: (a) action potential upstroke velocities greater than 90 V/sec; (b) suppression of spontaneous activity by tetrodotoxin; and (c) presence of a fast component of inward current recorded during voltage clamp. These membrane properties were similar to those of aggregates derived from 7-day hearts that had developed in ovo. The differentiation of fast Na+ conductance channels was a dependent upon active protein synthesis but not upon the presence of exogenous macromolecules.