Synchrony in the amphibian lymphatic system: evidence for bilateral posterior lymph heart synchrony and cardiac–lymphatic synchrony in Rana catesbeiana and Bufo marinus

Early investigations into amphibian lymph heart function established that lymph heart contractions were synchronous with neither the systemic heart, nor the lungs, nor each other. However, the present study concludes that there is synchronization between the cardiac heart and the lymph hearts and that the posterior lymph hearts in both Rana catesbeiana Shaw, 1802 and Bufo marinus (L., 1758) beat synchronously as well. Pressure peaks were recorded through cannulation of the ischiatic artery and each posterior lymph heart and subsequently analyzed to determine the time differences between arterial diastole and lymph heart systole or between two bilateral lymph heart systoles. Results show that there is clear synchronization between the lymph heart systoles of two bilateral posterior lymph hearts. This lymph heart synchrony is further supported by using Poincaré plot analysis to visually compare the lymph heart inter-beats. Cardiac heart and lymph heart contractions also show a degree of synchronization, even though the lymph hearts beat up to three times as fast as the cardiac heart. These results support the conclusion that synchrony is characteristic of the anuran lymphatic system and that synchronization of the cardiac heart and the lymph hearts could impart an energetic advantage that benefits fluid homeostatic mechanisms.

Ca(2+) uptake in the sarcoplasmic reticulum from the systemic heart of octopod cephalopods

We have measured Ca(2+) uptake in crude homogenates of heart tissue, as well as cell shortening and ionic currents in isolated myocytes exposed to caffeine, to characterize Ca(2+) uptake in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of the systemic heart of octopus. The maximal rate of SR Ca(2+) uptake in crude homogenates of octopus heart was 43+/−4 (mean +/− s.e.m., N=7), compared with 28+/−2 nmol min(−)(1)mg(−)(1) protein (N=4) in homogenates of rat heart. The Ca(2+)-dependency of SR Ca(2+) uptake was similar for the two species, with a Ca(2+) activity at half-maximal uptake rate (pCa(50)) of 6.04+/−0.02 for octopus and 6.02+/−0.05 for rat. Exposure of isolated myocytes to 10 mmol l(−)(1) caffeine resulted in cell shortening to 53+/−2 % of the resting cell length and an inward trans-sarcolemmal ionic current. The charge carried by this current was 3.28+/−0.70 pC pF(−)(1) (mean +/− s.e.m., N=5) corresponding to extrusion of 34.0+/−0.7 amol Ca(2+)pF(−)(1) from the cell by Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange. This is approximately 50 times more than the Ca(2+) carried by the Ca(2+) current elicited by a 200 ms depolarization from −80 to 0 mV and corresponds to an increase in the total intracellular [Ca(2+)] of 404+/−86 (μ)mol l(−)(1) non-mitochondrial volume due to Ca(2+) release from the SR. Thus, we find that at 20 degrees C in the SR both Ca(2+) content and Ca(2+) uptake rate in the systemic heart of octopus are comparable with or larger than the corresponding values obtained in the rat heart. These results support the argument that the SR may play an important role in the regulation of contraction in the systemic heart of cephalopods.

Control of the systemic heart and the portal heart of Myxine glutinosa

The effects of preload and afterload on the performance of the systemic heart of the hagfish Myxine glutinosa were investigated before and during sotalol treatment using an in situ perfusion technique. Elevation of input pressure (preload) increased flow by means of increased stroke volume and heart rate in accordance with Starling's law of the heart, while increased output pressure (afterload) decreased flow mainly because of decreased stroke volume. Treatment with the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist sotalol did not change the quality of the responses to increased preload or afterload, although power output decreased by 40 % and flow rate was reduced by 35 % mainly due to a decrease in heart rate. Isolated preparations of the systemic heart and the portal heart provided information on the chronotropic effects of different agonists and antagonists. Both the systemic heart and the portal heart were insensitive to adrenergic and cholinergic agonists, adrenocorticotropic hormone and the cholinoceptor antagonist atropine. Sotalol treatment lowered the rate of spontaneous contractions by 30 % in the systemic heart preparation and by 21 % in the portal heart preparation. This study has given further evidence for the existence of a tonic beta-adrenoceptor stimulation of the hagfish systemic heart and portal heart, and demonstrated the importance of that stimulation in maintaining systemic heart performance.