AMALIA KHUSNA LATHIFAH

CARDIOVASCULAR

1. Explain the implementation of Frank-Starling Law in daily life.

The Frank–Starling law of the heart indicates that the increased filling pressure of the
right heart results in increased cardiac output. Any increase in output of the right heart is
quickly communicated to the left heart as an increased filling pressure. When a person stands
up, for example, cardiac output falls because a fall in central venous pressure leads to a decrease
in stroke volume. As another example, limb movement (muscle pump) during exercise
enhances venous return to the heart, which causes an increase in stroke volume.

2. Explain the formula to determine the dose of physical exercise, and give an example.

Total exercise dose can also be calculated as MET minutes or MET hours. As explained
above, one MET, or metabolic equivalent, is the rate at which energy is used by the body at
rest. It is expressed in relation to body weight and is taken as 3.5ml of oxygen per minute per
kilogram. A 70kg man walking at 4 mph will be exercising at about 5 METs. If he maintains
this pace for an hour he will have expended 5×60 = 300 MET minutes or 5 MET hours. It is
not too difficult to calculate the total number of MET minutes of exercise you expend in a week
– though it may demand a degree of obsessiveness to do so. Just add up the MET minutes of
all the exercise you have done, but remember that the actual energy cost of each exercise is
only an approximation. If you are anything like the rest of humanity this will be an
overestimate! It is then possible to convert the exercise dose from MET minutes into Calories
using this formula:

Total MET minutes x 3.5 x body weight in kilograms ÷ 200 = number of Calories used.

For example the 70kg man walking briskly for an hour will have used:

5 x 60 x 3.5 x 70 ÷ 200 = 367.5 Calories

3. Explain the benefits of plateau on the heart muscle action potential

This plateau phase allows for a longer muscle contraction and gives time for the nearby
cardiac muscle cells to depolarize. This is important in allowing the heart to contract in a steady,
uniform and forceful manner. During the plateau phase of the action potential, calcium ions
flow down this steep concentration gradient and enter the myocyte. Most of this calcium enters
through the L-type channels, located primarily at sarcolemmal/sarcoplasmic reticulum
junctions. Plateau phase: >increases strength of heart's contraction. >allows more calcium ions
to enter cell. > allows heart to relax and ventricles to refill with blood before cardiac muscle
cells are stimulated to contract again.