[Heart rate in Daphnia magna as a functional test for assessing efficacy of chemical agents].

It is suggested to use Daphnia magna Straus as a biotest object for the evaluation of heart rate (HR) as a functional parameter. The influence of cholinergic ligands (atropine and carbamylcholine) on the Daphnia cardiac rhythm has been studied. It is found that the cholinergic agonist and antagonist produced opposite influence on the HR and are capable of prevent the action of each other. The Daphnia HR variation test can be used in evaluating the effect of xenobiotics and in selecting agents for the pharmacological correction of this functional parameter.