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Myocardial Contractility
Myocardial contractility represents the innate ability of the heart muscle ( cardiac muscle or myocardium) to contract. It is the maximum attainable value for the force of contraction of a given heart. The ability to produce changes in force during contraction result from incremental degrees of binding between different types of tissue, that is, between filaments of myosin (thick) and actin (thin) tissue. The degree of binding depends upon the concentration of calcium ions in the cell. Within an in vivo intact heart, the action/response of the sympathetic nervous system is driven by precisely timed releases of a catecholamine, which is a process that determines the concentration of calcium ions in the cytosol of cardiac muscle cells. The factors causing an increase in contractility work by causing an increase in intracellular calcium ions (Ca++) during contraction. Mechanisms for altering contractility Increasing contractility is done primarily through increasing the influx of c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, the others being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that constitutes the main tissue of the wall of the heart. The cardiac muscle (myocardium) forms a thick middle layer between the outer layer of the heart wall (the pericardium) and the inner layer (the endocardium), with blood supplied via the coronary circulation. It is composed of individual cardiac muscle cells joined by intercalated discs, and encased by collagen fibers and other substances that form the extracellular matrix. Cardiac muscle contracts in a similar manner to skeletal muscle, although with some important differences. Electrical stimulation in the form of a cardiac action potential triggers the release of calcium from the cell's internal calcium store, the sarcoplasmic reticulum. The rise in calcium causes the cell's myofilaments to slide past each other i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phosphorylation
In biochemistry, phosphorylation is described as the "transfer of a phosphate group" from a donor to an acceptor. A common phosphorylating agent (phosphate donor) is ATP and a common family of acceptor are alcohols: : This equation can be written in several ways that are nearly equivalent that describe the behaviors of various protonated states of ATP, ADP, and the phosphorylated product. As is clear from the equation, a phosphate group per se is not transferred, but a phosphoryl group (PO3-). Phosphoryl is an electrophile. This process and its inverse, dephosphorylation, are common in biology. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Protein phosphorylation often activates (or deactivates) many enzymes. During respiration Phosphorylation is essential to the processes of both anaerobic and aerobic respiration, which involve the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the "high-energy" exc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digitalis
''Digitalis'' ( or ) is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and Biennial plant, biennials, commonly called foxgloves. ''Digitalis'' is native to Europe, Western Asia, and northwestern Africa. The flowers are tubular in shape, produced on a tall spike, and vary in colour with species, from purple to pink, white, and yellow. The name derives from the Latin word for "finger". The genus was traditionally placed in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae, but phylogenetic research led taxonomists to move it to the Veronicaceae in 2001. More recent phylogenetic work has placed it in the much enlarged family Plantaginaceae. The best-known species is the common foxglove, ''Digitalis purpurea''. This biennial is often grown as an ornamental plant due to its vivid flowers, which range in colour from various purple tints through pink and purely white. The flowers can also possess various marks and spottings. Other garden-worthy species include ''D. ferrugi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ATPase
ATPases (, Adenosine 5'-TriPhosphatase, adenylpyrophosphatase, ATP monophosphatase, triphosphatase, ATP hydrolase, adenosine triphosphatase) are a class of enzymes that catalyze the decomposition of ATP into ADP and a free phosphate ion or the inverse reaction. This dephosphorylation reaction releases energy, which the enzyme (in most cases) harnesses to drive other chemical reactions that would not otherwise occur. This process is widely used in all known forms of life. Some such enzymes are integral membrane proteins (anchored within biological membranes), and move solutes across the membrane, typically against their concentration gradient. These are called transmembrane ATPases. Functions Transmembrane ATPases import metabolites necessary for cell metabolism and export toxins, wastes, and solutes that can hinder cellular processes. An important example is the sodium-potassium pump (Na+/K+ATPase) that maintains the cell membrane potential. Another example is the h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bowditch Effect
The Bowditch effect, also known as the Treppe phenomenon or Treppe effect or Staircase Phenomenon, is an autoregulation method by which myocardial tension increases with an increase in heart rate. It was first observed by Henry Pickering Bowditch in 1871. Mechanism The underlying cause of the Bowditch effect is an increase in the calcium concentration in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of cardiac muscle cells, and its increased release into sarcoplasm. One of the explanations for an increase in the intracellular calcium concentration is the inability of the Na+/K+-ATPase to keep up with influx of sodium at higher heart rates. When a higher heart rate occurs, for example due to adrenergic stimulation, the L-type calcium channel has increased activity. The sodium-calcium exchanger (which allows 3 Na+ to flow down its electrochemical gradient in exchange for 1 Ca++ ion to flow out of the cell) works to decrease the levels of intracellular calcium. As the heart rate becomes more r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anrep Effect
The Anrep effect describes the rapid increase in myocardial contractility in response to the sudden rise in afterload, the pressure the heart must work against to eject blood. This adaptive mechanism allows the heart to sustain stroke volume and cardiac output despite increased resistance. It operates through homeometric autoregulation, meaning that contractility adjustments occur independently of preload (the initial stretch of the heart muscle) or heart rate. The Anrep effect is characterized by a two-step elevation in myocardial contractility, in response to elevated afterload, involving two distinct mechanistic phases: a primary, rapid rise in contractility driven by sarcomeric strain sensing, and a secondary, sustained phase of contraction mediated by post-translational modifications of contractile proteins. First described by Gleb von Anrep in 1912 and further elaborated in the 1960s by Sarnoff et al., the Anrep effect represents a distinct cardiac regulation mechanism, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afterload
Afterload is the pressure that the heart must work against to eject blood during systole (ventricular contraction). Afterload is proportional to the average arterial pressure. As aortic and pulmonary pressures increase, the afterload increases on the left and right ventricles respectively. Afterload changes to adapt to the continually changing demands on an animal's cardiovascular system. Afterload is proportional to mean systolic blood pressure and is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Hemodynamics Afterload is a determinant of cardiac output. Cardiac output is the product of stroke volume and heart rate. Afterload is a determinant of stroke volume (in addition to preload, and strength of myocardial contraction). Following Laplace's law, the tension upon the muscle fibers in the heart wall is the pressure within the ventricle multiplied by the volume within the ventricle divided by the wall thickness (this ratio is the other factor in setting the afterload). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permeability (Earth Sciences)
In fluid mechanics, materials science and Earth sciences, the permeability of porous media (often, a rock or soil) is a measure of the ability for fluids (gas or liquid) to flow through the media; it is commonly symbolized as ''k''. Fluids can more easily flow through a material with high permeability than one with low permeability. The permeability of a medium is related to the '' porosity'', but also to the shapes of the pores in the medium and their level of connectedness. Fluid flows can also be influenced in different lithological settings by brittle deformation of rocks in fault zones; the mechanisms by which this occurs are the subject of fault zone hydrogeology. Permeability is also affected by the pressure inside a material. The SI unit for permeability is the square metre (m2). A practical unit for permeability is the '' darcy'' (d), or more commonly the ''millidarcy'' (md) The name honors the French Engineer Henry Darcy who first described the flow of wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
L-type Calcium Channels
The L-type calcium channel (also known as the dihydropyridine channel, or DHP channel) is part of the high-voltage activated family of voltage-dependent calcium channel. "L" stands for long-lasting referring to the length of activation. This channel has four isoforms: Cav1.1, Cav1.2, Cav1.3, and Cav1.4. L-type calcium channels are responsible for the excitation-contraction coupling of skeletal, smooth, cardiac muscle, and for aldosterone secretion in endocrine cells of the adrenal cortex. They are also found in neurons, and with the help of L-type calcium channels in endocrine cells, they regulate neurohormones and neurotransmitters. They have also been seen to play a role in gene expression, mRNA stability, neuronal survival, ischemic-induced axonal injury, synaptic efficacy, and both activation and deactivation of other ion channels. In cardiac myocytes, the L-type calcium channel passes inward Ca2+ current (ICaL) and triggers calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troponin C
Troponin C is a protein which is part of the troponin complex. It contains four calcium-binding EF hands, although different isoforms may have fewer than four functional calcium-binding subdomains. It is a component of thin filaments, along with actin and tropomyosin. It contains an N lobe and a C lobe. The C lobe serves a structural purpose and binds to the N domain of troponin I (TnI). The C lobe can bind either Ca2+ or Mg2+. The N lobe, which binds only Ca2+, is the regulatory lobe and binds to the C domain of troponin I after calcium binding. Isoforms The tissue specific subtypes are: * Slow troponin C, TNNC1 (3p21.1 ) * Fast troponin C, TNNC2 (20q12-q13.11, ) Mutations Point mutations can occur in troponin C inducing alterations to Ca2+ and Mg2+ binding and protein structure, leading to abnormalities in muscle contraction. In cardiac muscle, they are related to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). These known point mutation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lusitropy
Lusitropy or lucitropy is the rate of myocardial relaxation. The increase in cytosolic calcium of cardiomyocytes via increased uptake leads to increased myocardial contractility (positive inotropic effect), but the myocardial relaxation, or lusitropy, decreases. This should not be confused, however, with catecholamine-induced calcium uptake into the sarcoplasmic reticulum, which increases lusitropy. __TOC__ Positive lusitropy Increased catecholamine levels promote positive lusitropy, enabling the heart to relax more rapidly. This effect is mediated by the phosphorylation of phospholamban and troponin I Troponin I is a cardiac and skeletal muscle protein family. It is a part of the troponin protein complex, where it binds to actin in thin myofilaments to hold the actin-tropomyosin complex in place. Troponin I prevents myosin from binding to act ... via a cAMP-dependent pathway. Catecholamine-induced calcium influx into the sarcoplasmic reticulum increases both inotropy a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum
The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is a membrane-bound structure found within muscle cells that is similar to the smooth endoplasmic reticulum in other cells. The main function of the SR is to store calcium ions (Ca2+). Calcium ion levels are kept relatively constant, with the concentration of calcium ions within a cell being 10,000 times smaller than the concentration of calcium ions outside the cell. This means that small increases in calcium ions within the cell are easily detected and can bring about important cellular changes (the calcium is said to be a second messenger). Calcium is used to make calcium carbonate (found in chalk) and calcium phosphate, two compounds that the body uses to make teeth and bones. This means that too much calcium within the cells can lead to hardening (calcification) of certain intracellular structures, including the mitochondria, leading to cell death. Therefore, it is vital that calcium ion levels are controlled tightly, and can be released int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
