“…Hearts were excised, and the ventricles removed. The sinoatrial node, defined as the region bordered by the crista terminalis, the interatrial septum, and the superior and inferior vena cavae (13,15,34,12,22,30), was microdissected at 35°C in a heparinized Tyrode's solution containing (in mM) 140 NaCl, 5.4 KCl, 1.2 KH 2PO4, 5 HEPES, 5.5 D-Glucose, 1 MgCl2, 1.8 CaCl2, and 100 USP/ml heparin, pH adjusted to 7.4 with NaOH. Sinoatrial node tissue was cut into three strips, which were enzymatically digested for 10 -15 min at 35°C with 3.75 mg Liberase TM (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) and 4.75 U elastase (Worthington Biochemical, Lakewood, NJ) in a modified Tyrode's solution containing (in mM) 140 NaCl, 5.4 KCl, 1.2 KH 2PO4, 5 HEPES, 18.5 D-glucose, 0.066 CaCl 2, 50 taurine, and 1 mg/ml BSA, pH adjusted to 6.9 with NaOH.…”