Abstract
Summary
The effects of increasing or decreasing peripheral resistance on heart rate, left ventricular stroke volume, cardiac output, stroke work, cardiac work and aortic pressure were investigated in 51 open-chest acute experiments. The results show a decrease in cardiac output, heart rate, and cardiac work with an increase in systemic resistance. Aortic pressure increased, but stroke work showed no consistent relationship to an increase in resistance. Stroke volume increased in approximately one-half of the animals when resistance was increased, accompanied by a decrease in heart rate. Cardiac output, stroke volume, cardiac work and stroke work all increased in response to a decrease in systemic resistance, accompanied by smaller changes in heart rate and aortic pressure. Right atrial pressure also increased significantly when resistance was decreased.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.