Cardiac neural crest ablation (CNCA) in the chick embryo at stages 8-10 results in reduced contractility of the heart that can be observed as early as stage 14. We found that intact trabeculae from embryonic day (E) 15 experimental animals after CNCA display an approximately 50% decrease in twitch force relative to sham-operated E15 control animals. In control and CNCA trabeculae skinned in Triton X-100 and bathed in our standard solutions, neither maximum Ca(2+)-activated force nor Ca2+ sensitivity of the contractile apparatus was significantly different. CNCA resulted in a marked reduction in the magnitude of the Ca2+ transient in trabeculae, estimated using fura 2 acetoxymethyl ester. CNCA had no effect on the half-time of Ca2+ loading by the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of saponin skinned trabeculae at fixed Ca2+. However, it slightly reduced the Ca2+ sensitivity of Ca2+ uptake by the SR. Its most dramatic effect was to essentially abolish Ca(2+)-induced Ca2+ release from the SR. These effects on Ca2+ metabolism explain, in part, the decrease in the intracellular Ca2+ transient and myocardial contractility observed with CNCA.