As Acetylcholine, Epinephrine, Atropine + Acetylcholine, and
Pilocarpine were applied to the frog heart in the order described by the Heart Muscle Lab Manual LabTutor (Weixel, 2014), Acetylcholine and Pilocarpine generally slowed the heart rate and Epinephrine and Atropine + Acetylcholine increased the heart rate. With the application of Acetylcholine, a heart rate of 55.2 BPM was recorded as dropping to 33.1 BPM. For Epinephrine, the heart rate increased from 33.3 BPM to 93.6 BPM. Administering Pilocarpine caused the heart rate to drop from 66.3 BMP to 41.8 BPM. Lastly, Atropine + Acetylcholine increased the heart rate from 54.0 BPM to 150.2 BPM (Table 3, Figure 3). Using the raw data (Table 4) to see if there was a difference between heart rate before or after drug exposure, the absolute value of the calculated t-value, 0.959207, is less than the two tailed t-critical value, 3.182446, therefore we would fail to reject the null hypothesis that there are any differences between the two sets of data. Based on our prior knowledge of the drugs’ effects on parasympathetic and sympathetic control of the heart, we can assume that this counter evidence was due to chance or error. In general, Acetylcholine produces parasympathetic effects by binding to muscarinic cholinergic receptors, which activates G- proteins and opens potassium channels (hyperpolarization), while closing sodium and calcium channels. This caused the rate of action potential firing to decrease, thus decreasing heart rate. Epinephrine is a hormone secreted by the adrenal medulla together with norepinephrine, and acts to increase both the strength of contraction of heart rate by binding to beta-1 adrenergic receptors (Silverthorn, 2012). In 1881, scientist Sydney Ringer first experimented with Atropine and Pilocarpine to observe the effects on heart rate. Ringer had discovered that Atropine increased heart rate, while Pilocarpine decreased heart rate (Ringer, 1881). Atropine is an Ach antagonist, which blocks the muscarinic Ach receptors and effects of Ach, thereby increasing pupil size (dilation) and increasing heart rate (Animal Physiology Lab Lecture Notes, 2014). Lastly, Pilocarpine is a muscarinic receptor agonist that increases the activity of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, increasing the effects of acetylcholine in the body. Since pilocarpine increases the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, it slows down the heart rate (Silverthorn, 2014).