The heart works against gravity

1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (4) ◽  
pp. R715-R720 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Seymour ◽  
A. R. Hargens ◽  
T. J. Pedley
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Potential Energy ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Viscous Resistance ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Experimental Artifact ◽  
Continuous Stream ◽  
Laboratory Models ◽  
Poiseuille Equation

The circulatory systems of vertebrate animals are closed, and blood leaves and returns to the heart at the same level. It is often concluded, therefore, that the heart works only against the viscous resistance of the system, not against gravity, even in vascular loops above the heart in which the siphon principle operates. However, we argue that the siphon principle does not assist blood flow in superior vascular loops if any of the descending vasculature is collapsible. If central arterial blood pressure is insufficient to support a blood column between the heart and the head, blood flow ceases because of vascular collapse. Furthermore, the siphon principle does not assist the heart even when a continuous stream of blood is flowing in a superior loop. The potential energy gained by blood as it is pumped to the head is lost to friction in partially collapsed descending vessels and thus is not regained. Application of the Poiseuille equation to flow in collapsible vessels is limited; resistance depends on flow rate in partially collapsed vessels with no transmural pressure difference, but flow rate is independent of resistance. Thus the pressure developed by the heart to establish a given flow rate is independent of the resistance occurring in the partially collapsed vessels. The pressure depends only on the height of the blood column and the resistance in the noncollapsed parts of the system. Simple laboratory models, involving water flow in collapsible tubing, dispel the idea that the siphon principle facilitates blood flow and suggest that previously published results may have been affected by experimental artifact.

Nocturnal variations in peripheral blood flow, systemic blood pressure, and heart rate in humans

1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (4) ◽  
pp. H982-H988
Author(s):  
J. H. Sindrup ◽  
J. Kastrup ◽  
H. Christensen ◽  
B. Jorgensen
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Mean Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Tissue Blood Flow ◽  
Peripheral Blood Flow ◽  
Arterial Blood

Subcutaneous adipose tissue blood flow rate, together with systemic arterial blood pressure and heart rate under ambulatory conditions, was measured in the lower legs of 15 normal human subjects for 12-20 h. The 133Xe-washout technique, portable CdTe(Cl) detectors, and a portable data storage unit were used for measurement of blood flow rates. An automatic portable blood pressure recorder and processor unit was used for measurement of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate every 15 min. The change from upright to supine position at the beginning of the night period was associated with a 30-40% increase in blood flow rate and a highly significant decrease in mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate (P less than 0.001 for all). Approximately 100 min after the subjects went to sleep an additional blood flow rate increment (mean 56%) and a simultaneous significant decrease in mean arterial blood pressure (P less than 0.001) were observed. The duration of this hyperemic phase was 116 min. A highly significant reduction of the subcutaneous vascular resistance (50%) was demonstrated during the hyperemic blood flow rate phase compared with the surrounding phases (P less than 0.0001). The synchronism of the nocturnal subcutaneous hyperemia and the decrease in systemic mean arterial blood pressure point to a common, possibly central nervous or humoral, eliciting mechanism.

scholarly journals Cardiovascular Physiology of Dinosaurs

Physiology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 430-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Cardiovascular Physiology ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Heart Size

Cardiovascular function in dinosaurs can be inferred from fossil evidence with knowledge of how metabolic rate, blood flow rate, blood pressure, and heart size are related to body size in living animals. Skeletal stature and nutrient foramen size in fossil femora provide direct evidence of a high arterial blood pressure, a large four-chambered heart, a high aerobic metabolic rate, and intense locomotion. But was the heart of a huge, long-necked sauropod dinosaur able to pump blood up 9 m to its head?

scholarly journals Raising the sauropod neck: it costs more to get less

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger S. Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Energy Cost ◽  
Blood Flow Rate ◽  
Work Rate ◽  
Cardiac Work ◽  
Arterial Blood

The long necks of gigantic sauropod dinosaurs are commonly assumed to have been used for high browsing to obtain enough food. However, this analysis questions whether such a posture was reasonable from the standpoint of energetics. The energy cost of circulating the blood can be estimated accurately from two physiological axioms that relate metabolic rate, blood flow rate and arterial blood pressure: (i) metabolic rate is proportional to blood flow rate and (ii) cardiac work rate is proportional to the product of blood flow rate and blood pressure. The analysis shows that it would have required the animal to expend approximately half of its energy intake just to circulate the blood, primarily because a vertical neck would have required a high systemic arterial blood pressure. It is therefore energetically more feasible to have used a more or less horizontal neck to enable wide browsing while keeping blood pressure low.

Effects of nicotine on canine intestinal blood flow and oxygen consumption

1984 ◽  
Vol 246 (2) ◽  
pp. G195-G203
Author(s):  
R. H. Gallavan ◽  
Y. Tsuchiya ◽  
E. D. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Oxygen Consumption ◽  
Muscle Tension ◽  
Intestinal Blood Flow ◽  
Mesenteric Blood Flow ◽  
State Response ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Intestinal Circulation

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of nicotine on intestinal blood flow and oxygen consumption. The intravenous infusion of nicotine at doses corresponding to those experienced by smokers produced a transient increase in systemic arterial blood pressure and mesenteric blood flow. Subsequently a steady-state response developed that consisted of a reduction in mesenteric blood flow due to both a decrease in blood pressure and an increase in intestinal vascular resistance. This increase in resistance was probably due to increased levels of circulating catecholamines. The intra-arterial infusion of nicotine into the intestinal circulation at doses experienced by the average smoker had no effect on either intestinal blood flow or oxygen consumption. Similarly, under in vitro conditions nicotine had no direct effect on intestinal vascular smooth muscle tension. Thus, nicotine appears to reduce intestinal blood flow indirectly as a result of its systemic effects.

The relationship of blood flow velocity fluctuations to intracranial pressure B waves

1992 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Newell ◽  
Rune Aaslid ◽  
Renate Stooss ◽  
Hans J. Reulen
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Intracranial Pressure ◽  
Arterial Blood Pressure ◽  
Wave Amplitude ◽  
Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Flow Fluctuations

✓ Intracranial pressure (ICP) and continuous transcranial Doppler ultrasound signals were monitored in 20 head-injured patients and simultaneous synchronous fluctuations of middle cerebral artery (MCA) velocity and B waves of the ICP were observed. Continuous simultaneous monitoring of MCA velocity, ICP, arterial blood pressure, and expired CO2 revealed that both velocity waves and B waves occurred despite a constant CO2 concentration in ventilated patients and were usually not accompanied by fluctuations in the arterial blood pressure. Additional recordings from the extracranial carotid artery during the ICP B waves revealed similar synchronous fluctuations in the velocity of this artery, strongly supporting the hypothesis that blood flow fluctuations produce the velocity waves. The ratio between ICP wave amplitude and velocity wave amplitude was highly correlated to the ICP (r = 0.81, p < 0.001). Velocity waves of similar characteristics and frequency, but usually of shorter duration, were observed in seven of 10 normal subjects in whom MCA velocity was recorded for 1 hour. The findings in this report strongly suggest that B waves in the ICP are a secondary effect of vasomotor waves, producing cerebral blood flow fluctuations that become amplified in the ICP tracing, in states of reduced intracranial compliance.

Diurnal variation in time to presyncope and associated circulatory changes during a controlled orthostatic challenge

2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (1) ◽  
pp. R55-R61 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. C. S. Lewis ◽  
G. Atkinson ◽  
S. J. E. Lucas ◽  
E. J. M. Grant ◽  
H. Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Diurnal Variation ◽  
Flow Velocity ◽  
Blood Flow Velocity ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity ◽  
Orthostatic Challenge ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Neurally Mediated Syncope

Epidemiological data indicate that the risk of neurally mediated syncope is substantially higher in the morning. Syncope is precipitated by cerebral hypoperfusion, yet no chronobiological experiment has been undertaken to examine whether the major circulatory factors, which influence perfusion, show diurnal variation during a controlled orthostatic challenge. Therefore, we examined the diurnal variation in orthostatic tolerance and circulatory function measured at baseline and at presyncope. In a repeated-measures experiment, conducted at 0600 and 1600, 17 normotensive volunteers, aged 26 ± 4 yr (mean ± SD), rested supine at baseline and then underwent a 60° head-up tilt with 5-min incremental stages of lower body negative pressure until standardized symptoms of presyncope were apparent. Pretest hydration status was similar at both times of day. Continuous beat-to-beat measurements of cerebral blood flow velocity, blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, and end-tidal Pco2 were obtained. At baseline, mean cerebral blood flow velocity was 9 ± 2 cm/s (15%) lower in the morning than the afternoon ( P < 0.0001). The mean time to presyncope was shorter in the morning than in the afternoon (27.2 ± 10.5 min vs. 33.1 ± 7.9 min; 95% CI: 0.4 to 11.4 min, P = 0.01). All measurements made at presyncope did not show diurnal variation ( P > 0.05), but the changes over time (from baseline to presyncope time) in arterial blood pressure, estimated peripheral vascular resistance, and α-index baroreflex sensitivity were greater during the morning tests ( P < 0.05). These data indicate that tolerance to an incremental orthostatic challenge is markedly reduced in the morning due to diurnal variations in the time-based decline in blood pressure and the initial cerebral blood flow velocity “reserve” rather than the circulatory status at eventual presyncope. Such information may be used to help identify individuals who are particularly prone to orthostatic intolerance in the morning.

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