Tetanus Or Wave Summation

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The heart has a relatively long refractory period due to the plateau phase. The plateau phase occurs from the maintenance of a high calcium conductance and a delay in the subsequent increase in potassium conductance after a cardiac action potential. The heart membrane remains in a refractory or contracted state until the heart has fully returned to a relaxed state; therefore, tetanus or wave summation does not occur in cardiac muscles (Randall, 2002). When the frog’s heart was stimulated with single stimuli, an extrasystole and an increase in frequency was observed during the relaxation phase, but the amplitude remained constant. These results were analogous to the multiple stimuli treatment, which we expected. Because both single and multiple

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