A study of inotropic mechanisms in the papillary muscle preparation.

The length-tension diagram, the force-velocity relation, the characteristics of the series elasticity, and the duration of the active state have been studied on the papillary muscle preparation of the cat heart, and on other examples of cardiac muscle. Positive inotropic changes such as the staircase phenomenon and post-extrasystolic potentiation occur without lengthening, but frequently with shortening, of the duration of the active state. They are accompanied by an increased velocity of contraction, and may be caused either by an intensification of the active state or by an alteration of the force-velocity characteristics of the contractile component. The changes in the force-velocity relation point to an adaptation of the velocity-efficiency relation in dependence on the frequency of contraction.