title: Integration of myofilament response to Ca2+ with cardiac pump regulation and pump dynamics.
abstract: In this paper I present some ideas related to teaching cardiac pump dynamics and regulation to first-year medical students. I emphasize explicit presentation of the relation between the activity of the contractile machine in the myocytes to pump dynamics, pressure-volume relations, and cardiac output regulation, with matching oxygen supply to tissue demands serving as a focal point. Important ideas here are 1) the concept that regulation is at the cellular level of regulation; 2) that force and shortening properties of the cells are ultimately dependent on the number of cross bridges reacting with the thin filament and on the rate of cross-bridge cycling; 3) that the concepts of preload, aferload, and contractility originated in studies of muscle mechanics; 4) that there is a reserve of force-generating cross bridges, i.e., the myofilaments are not fully activated by Ca2+ in the basal state, and that force-generating cross bridges can themselves activate the thin filament; and 5) that length dependence of myofilament Ca2+ activation is important in the cellular basis of Starling's law of the heart. The elaboration of these processes serves to elucidate how these mechanisms play a role in coupling tissue oxygen demands to supply.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Collge of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60612-7342, USA. solarorj@uic.edu
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Solaro
mesh_terms: D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology*; D003479:Curriculum; D004501:Education, Medical; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D010827:Physiology / Q000193:education*
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium