Effect on Left Ventricular Performance of Stimulation of an Afferent Nerve from Muscle

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Abstract
The effect on left ventricular performance of electrical stimulation of the cut central end of the quadriceps nerve was studied in open-chest dogs. Stimulation of the nerve at 2 to 4 times threshold for the flexion reflex, which presumably activated intermediate-sized afferent fibers, caused a decrease in heart rate and arterial pressure. Stimulation at 5 to 25 times threshold, which presumably activated small-sized, high-threshold afferent fibers, increased heart rate, arterial pressure, and cardiac output. When heart rate, arterial pressure, and cardiac output were controlled, activation of high-threshold afferent fibers caused a significant increase in the maximal rate of pressure rise, stroke power, and mean rate of ejection of the left ventricle without an increase in the end-diastolic pressure. These same fibers may in some way be activated during muscular exercise and be partially responsible for the increase in left ventricular contractility that occurs during that time.