The Role of the Cardioregulatory Nerves in Mediating Heart Rate Responses to Locomotion, Reduced Stroke Volume, and Neurohormones in Homarus americanus

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Abstract
Control of decapod crustacean heart activity is believed to be dependent on the regulation of the cardiac ganglion by external input from the central nervous system as well as by circulating neurohormones. This study investigated the roles of these inputs on the heart rates of lobsters exercising on a treadmill. Heart rate increased rapidly at the onset of walking in control animals. This rapid phase was lost after the regulatory nerves were cut, but small increases still occurred. When stroke volume was reduced by cutting alary ligaments, the animals compensated by increasing heart rate; this compensation was lost when the regulatory nerves were cut. In resting animals, injection of serotonin, octopamine, and dopamine induced increases in heart rate. After the regulatory nerves were cut, only dopamine and serotonin injections caused increases in heart rate, suggesting that these amines act on the cardiac ganglion as independent effectors.

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