Initial cardiovascular adjustment to exercise in dogs with chronic cardiac denervation

Abstract

In three normal dogs and in six dogs with cardiac denervation, there was a rapid increase in cardiac output (electromagnetic flowmeter) from the start of exercise. The denervated group showed an average delay of 25 sec in reaching plateau values of cardiac output and a deficit of 18% in the accumulated flow over the first minute of running; augmentation of output was due principally to a rapid increase in stroke volume since acceleration of heart rate was slow. In normal dogs, the augmentation of output came from a rapid increase in heart rate. The steady-state values for cardiac output and oxygen consumption were similar in the two groups as was the pattern of oxygen consumption in the first minutes of exercise and the manner in which the oxygen debt was repaid. This suggested that the denervated dogs extracted more oxygen from the circulating blood in the first moments of running. The changes with exercise in aortic blood pressure were similar in the two groups.