Lecture 6 Flashcards
How can we control the heart extrinsically?
Via hormonal and nervous control
What four things to we need autonomic control of the heart for?
- fight
- flight
- feeding
- sexy times
The heart is controlled both _____________ and _____________
sympathetically
parasympathetically
What is the name of the nerve that innervates the heart sympathetically?
sympathetic cardiac nerve
What is the name of the nerve that innervates the heart parasympathetically?
the vagus nerve
The vagus nerve releases what to innervate the heart parasympathetically?
ACh
The sympathetic cardiac nerve releases what to innervate the heart sympatheically?
NE
What is the function of altering the heart autonomically?
to alter the function without changing the end diastolic volume
What does the vagus nerve innervate to control the heart parasympathetically?
What does this allow it to control?
the SA node and the AV node
this is to control the heart rate (not the cardiac muscle cells themselves)
What does the sympathetic cardiac nerve innervate to control the heart sympathetically?
the SA node, the AV node and the muscle fibres to control both heart rate and contractility
Why can the events stack?
Because increasing the preload increases the end-diastolic volume and increasing the contractility increases the end systolic volume
What is the spontaneous rate of action potentials in an atrial cell?
110bpm
What is the resting heart rate?
60-70bpm
Why is it that the spontaneous rate of action potentials in an atrial cell is 110bpm but the resting heart rate is 60-70bpm?
There must be ________ of the ___________ cells to slow their rate from _________ to _________ because there is constant release of ________ or ___________ into the ____________ node
There must be control of the pacemaker cells to slow their rate from 110bpm to 60bpm because there is constant release of NE or ACh into the SA node
What are sympathetic fibres also known as?
cardiac nerves
What are parasympathetic fibres also known as?
the vagus nerve
If you can change the _______ of phases 4 and 3 in the action potential for a ventricular cell, you are going to be able to make the what go up or down?
slope
the heart rate
What happens during phase 4 of the action potential of a pacemaker cell?
The resting membrane potential is -60mv/-70mV and it is unstable due to the funny Na+ channels. There is a slow influx of Na+ and then the opening of T-type Ca2+ channels. The threshold is reached at -50mV/-40mV. An action potential is generated and then there is repolarisation of the cell through K+ channels
How can neuronal control affect the action potential of a pacemaker cell? (sympathetic stimulation)
Sympathetic cardiac nerve releases NE onto the pacemaker cells which bind to β-adrenoreceptors which will open Ca2+ and Na+ channels. This lets more + charge into the cell so the resting membrane potential becomes more +
Also, the phase 4 line is going to be steeper. We are therefore starting from a less negative potential and we are depolarising more quickly
If we increase the spontaneous rate of SA node depolarisation, the heart rate is going to what?
increase
What is an increase in the heart rate called?
Tachycardia
What is the cellular effect of NE binding the β1-adrenoreceptors on the pacemaker cells?
The β-adrenoreceptors is coupled to adenyl-cyclase which generate cAMP. This is secondary signalling molecule and it directly activated the funny Na+ channels and the more Na+ they let into the cell.
cAMP also activates PKA which activates T-type Ca2+ channels which makes them more active so more Ca2+ gets into the cell. It also phosphorylates K+ channels
Why is it important that NE binding to the β-adrenoreceptors phosphorylates K+ channels which opens them?
Because if more + charge can now leave the cell, the slope of the 3rd phase is steeper so the cell is repolarising more quickly, ready for the next beat
this will also increase the heart rate
How can neuronal control affect the action potential of a pacemaker= cell? (parasympathetic stimulation)
The vagus nerve releases ACh onto the pacemaker cells which bind to muscarinic which will open K+ channels and inhibit Na+ and Ca2+ channels. This lets less + charge into the cell so the resting membrane potential becomes more -
Also, the phase 4 line is going to be flatter. We are therefore starting from a more negative potential and we are depolarising less quickly
There is an increased gap between successive action potentials and so the heart rate is decreased
If we decrease the spontaneous rate of SA node depolarisation, the heart rate is going to what?
decrease
What is a decrease in heart rate called?
Bradycardia
What is the cellular effect of ACh binding the muscarinic on the pacemaker cells?
When ACh binds to the muscarinic receptor, it too is associated with adenyl-cyclase but the binding inhibits the action of adenyl-cyclase. This means that there is a decrease in cAMP. This means there will be less direct stimulation of the funny Na+ channels so the current through them goes down. There is also going to be less phosphorylation of PKA so there is less phosphorylation of T-type Ca2+ channels so phase 4 sloe is going to be less steep. There is also less activation of the K+ channels
Why is it important that ACh binding to the muscarinic receptors phosphorylates K+ channels which inhibits them?
The K+ channels responsible for the repolarisation phase are going to be less active.
BUT this is countered by the fact that we get activation of another set of K+ channels. These are directly coupled to the muscarinic receptors and these become more active. This allows K+ to come out of the cell more quickly, making the cell more - charged so the heart rate decreases