Myocardial interaction between the ventricles.

The myocardial interaction between the ventricles was studied using isolated, flow-perfused, paced rabbit hearts beating isovolumically. In general, increasing left ventricular (LV) volume increased right ventricular (RV) diastolic and developed pressures. In particular, with a peak RV volume (RVV), increasing LV volume (LVV) from zero to two-thirds of its peak volume increase RV diastolic pressure by 1.7 mmHg (N=10, P less than 0.001) and RV developed pressure by 1.5 mmHg (N=10,P less than 0.001). For the LV, small RVV caused LV diastolic and developed pressure to increase, while large RVV increased LV diastolic pressure but decreased LV developed pressure. With a LVV held at two-third of peak volume, increasing RVV from zero to its peak volume caused LV diastolic pressure to increase by 2.5 mmHg (N=10,P less than 0.001) and LV developed pressure to decrease by 2.0 mmHg (N=10, P less than 0.001). The position of the interventricular septum correlated with LV diastolic pressure and RV diastolic and developed pressure changes (P less than 0.01). The results demonstrate that the diastolic and developed pressure-volume relationships of either ventricle can be acutely altered by varying the volume of the other ventricle.