Activation of contraction in cardiac muscle
Jewell, B.R.; Wood, E.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings 57 Suppl: 6-13
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-6196 PMID: 6289019 Document Number: 185534
This paper begins with consideration of a qualitative model of excitation-contraction coupling in cardiac muscle which is based to a large extent on experimental work carried out on isolated preparations of cardiac muscle by Earl Wood during sabbatical years in Europe in 1966-67 and 1972-73. It goes on to consider newer evidence about excitation-contraction coupling that has been obtained from studies of "skinned" fiber preparations (that is, muscles in which the cell membranes have been disrupted or are absent) and from studied of isolated preparations in which the photoprotein aequorin was used to monitor changes in sarcoplasmic Ca2+ concentration. The results obtained from these two kinds of study are then combined in a qualitative way to illustrate current ideas about the mode of action of inotropic interventions and to provide possible explanations of the Frank-Starling effect as it appears in isolated preparations of cardiac muscle.