Effects of preload and afterload on the performance of the in situ perfused portal heart of the New Zealand hagfish Eptatretus cirrhatus

The portal heart of the New Zealand hagfish (Eptatretus cirrhatus) was perfused in situ. Stroke volume, cardiac output and power output increased in response to increased preload, in accordance with Starling's law of the heart. A positive chronotropic effect was found when the input pressure increased from 0.05 to 0.1 kPa. Increased afterload decreased stroke volume and cardiac output. Power output peaked at an output pressure of 0.22 kPa, after which it decreased. There was no change in heart rate in response to increased afterload. In unanaesthetized resting animals, the pressure in the supraintestinal vein, which supplies the portal heart, ranged from 0.025 to 0.07 kPa (mean 0.040±0.005 kPa). The beta-adrenoceptor antagonist sotalol did not affect the response to different input and output pressures. Sotalol produced a significant decrease in heart rate and abolished the pressure-sensitive increase in heart rate. Bolus injections of adrenaline produced a transient increase in portal heart rate. The negative chronotropic response to sotalol and the response to adrenaline indicate the presence of an endogenous beta-adrenergic tonus on the portal heart.