Electrical remodeling of atrioventricular junction: a study on retrogradely perfused chick embryonic heart.

Atrioventricular (AV) accessory pathways (APs) provide additional electrical connections between the atria and ventricles, resulting in severe electrical disturbances. It is generally accepted that APs originate in the altered annulus fibrosus maturation in the late prenatal and perinatal period. However, current experimental methods cannot address their development in specific locations around the annulus fibrosus because of the inaccessibility of late fetal hearts for electrophysiological investigation under physiological conditions. In this study, we describe an approach for optical mapping of the retrogradely perfused chick heart in the last third of the incubation period. This system showed stability for electrophysiological measurement for several hours. This feature allowed analysis of the number and functionality of the APs separately in each clinically relevant position. Under physiological conditions, we also recorded the shortening of the AV delay with annulus fibrosus maturation and analyzed ventricular activation patterns after conduction through APs at specific locations. We observed a gradual regression of AP with an area-specific rate (left-sided APs disappeared first). The results also revealed a sudden drop in the number of active APs between