Cardiovascular System

Lecture 5 (part I-II)

September 28, 2005
October 5, 2005
EXS 558
Dr. Moran
 Major Cardiovascular Functions

 Delivery (e.g., oxygen and nutrients)


 Transportation (e.g., hormones)

 Prevention (e.g., infection—immune function)
Just Some Facts
 For an average person the heart pumps
~5L/min


 With exercise programs the heart

(cardiac muscle) can adapt as well
Heart
 Myocardium – Cardiac Muscle
 Thickness varies directly with stress placed on chamber
walls.


 With vigorous exercise, the left ventricle size increases.


Heart Function
 At rest, the heart spends most of its time filling (60%
- diastole) than expelling (40% - systole)

 Following systole, the AV valves rapidly open and fill

the ventricles up to 70-80%
 The middle 1/3 of diastole has little filling and is known as
diastasis
 Stroke Volume & Cardiac Output
Stroke Volume (SV)
 Volume of blood pumped per contraction


 End-systolic volume (ESV)—volume of blood in ventricle after contraction

 SV = EDV – ESV
.
Cardiac Output (Q)

.
 Q = HR  SV
 Varies considerably between people

Trained athletes have lower resting HR and higher SV (Table 4.1)

 Ejection Fraction
 Proportion of blood pumped out of the left ventricle each
beat

 Averages 60% at rest

Calculation of SV, EF, and Q
 Vascular System

 Arteries
 Arterioles
 Capillaries

Creates a large surface area ideal for gas exchange

 Venules
 Veins

Blood Flow controlled by the autonomic nervous system

During REST 
During EXERCISE 
 Muscle Pump

 Blood distribution matched to overall

metabolic demands

 Autoregulation—

 Extrinsic neural control—sympathetic

nerves within walls of vessels are stimulated
causing vessels to constrict

 Blood Pressure
 Systolic blood pressure (SBP: s=squeeze) is the highest
pressure and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is the lowest
pressure


 MAP = DBP + [0.333  (SBP – DBP)]


Review
Vascular System
 Blood returns to the heart with the help of
breathing, the muscle pump, and valves in
the veins.


 Autoregulation controls blood flow by

vasodilation in response to local chemical
changes in an area.
(continued)
Review (continued)

 Extrinsic neural factors control blood flow

primarily by vasoconstriction.


 Mean arterial pressure (MAP) is the

average pressure on the arterial walls.
 Blood Functions

 Transports gas, nutrients, and wastes


 Buffers and balances acid base
Blood Volume
Composition
 Blood Formed Elements & Hematocrit

Blood formed elements

 White blood cells—protect body from disease organisms

 Red blood cells—carry oxygen to tissues with the help of hemoglobin

Hematocrit
 Ratio of formed elements to the total blood volume
Oxygen Transport
 Oxygen transported in blood combined
to hemoglobin (98%) or dissolved in
plasma (2%)


 Oxygen saturation affected by:

1.)
2.)
3.)
Bohr Effect
 Erythropoietin (EPO)
 Protein hormone produced by kidney


 Medically used to treat anemia (chronic

kidney failure)
 Increase oxygen carrying capacity of
blood


 “Sludging” of blood VERY dangerous

 Cardiovascular Response to Acute Exercise

 Heart rate (HR) increases as exercise intensity increases

up to maximal heart rate.
.


 Increases
. in HR and SV during exercise cause cardiac
output (Q) to increase.

 All result in allowing the body to efficiently meet the
increased demands placed on it.
Heart Rate During Exercise
 Initial increase b/c of withdrawal of
parasympathetic input


 Feedback from peripheral mechanical and

chemical receptors
Stroke Volume During Exercise
 Stroke volume changes are because of
an increase in EDV
 Suctioning Mechanism:


Frank-Starling Mechanism: with a greater volume of
blood returning to the heart the ventricles become stretched
and respond with a more powerful contraction



Cardiac Drift
 Increase in HR and decrease in SV


 Reason: greater % of blood flowing to skin to

dissipate heat  lower EDV causes an increased HR
 Arteriovenous Oxygen Difference
 Rest  25% of O2 extracted from blood
 Exercise  up to 75% of O2 extracted from
blood (used by exercising muscles)


 Fick Equation:



Cardiovascular Response to Training
 Cardiac Output


 Heart Rate


 Cardiac Morphology
 Table 4.2 (p. 52)
Cardiac Output
 VO2 max increases due to
1.) Improved oxygen extraction


2.) Increased cardiac output



3.) Max HR NOT affected from training

Stroke Volume
 Endurance-trained athletes have 60%
greater SV
 Enlarged left ventricular chamber
 (eccentric hypertrophy)

Stroke Volume & Training
Changes in EDV, ESV, EF
 Heart Rate
 Decrease in resting HR

 Highly trained endurance

athletes may have resting
heart rates of 30 to 40
beats/min
 Heart Rate Recovery


 With training, heart rate returns to resting level more

quickly after exercise

 Conditions such as altitude or heat can affect it

Heart Rate Recovery (continued)
Blood Pressure
 In hypertensive individuals, endurance exercise
reduces both systolic and diastolic blood pressure
(3-5x week; 30 min)
 Conflicting results from the result of resistance
training

 Blood Flow Increases With Training

 Increased capillarization of trained muscles (higher

capillary-to-fiber ratio)

 More effective blood redistribution—blood goes where
it is needed

 Blood Volume and Training
 Endurance training, especially intense
training, increases blood volume.


 Red blood cell volume increases, but

increase in plasma volume is higher; thus,
hematocrit decreases.


 Changes in plasma volume are highly

.
correlated with changes in SV and VO 2max.
Blood Volume and Training
Cardiac Morphology
 Law of LaPlace: ventricular wall pressure is proportional to pressure
and the radius of curvature (Ford 1976)

 Adaptations from Exercise Programs



 Endurance Athletes
 Greater than normal left ventricular internal diameter

 Resistance Athletes


 Left ventricular mass 45% greater than age-matched sedentary

controls
 (Fleck 1988)
 Differences in Heart Size

Intraventricular septal thickness

 The effect of acute aerobic exercise on stress
related blood pressure responses: A
systematic review and meta-analysis
 Hamer et al. (2005)

 Left Ventricular Mass Index and Sports: the

influence of different sports activities and
arterial blood pressure
 Cubero et al. (2000)
Echocardiograph (ultrasound)
Research Design
 Cross Sectional


 
 collected all at the same time (“snapshot”)

 Randomized Controlled Trial

 Two groups
 Treatment group  receives the treatment under
investigation,
 Control group 

VO2 Max Testing
 Depends on testing protocol
 Triathletes
 cycling ergometer protocol will be 3-6% less
than that seen in treadmill running, while
swimming is 13-18% less (O'Toole and
Douglas, 1995)