Journal article

Publication year: 1997

Pages: 123-130

Journal: Vie et Milieu // Laboratoire Arago, UniversitÉ P. et M. Curie

Volume number: 47

Issue number: 2

ISSN: 0240-8759

Publisher: Periodique D'ecologie-publication Trimestrielle

Abstract: 
Our physiological examinations on the systemic heart of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis L. revealed that the auricle as well as the ventricle each has a myogenic automatism of its own. The results presented in this paper support the hypothesis that the ventricular pacemaker is located within the atrio-ventricular junction, while the auricular myogenicity seems to be diffuse. Because examinations of perfused systemic hearts indicated that the ventricular automatism is influenced by the pulsating auricle, it is supposed that the ventricular pacemaker is subordinated to the myogenicity of the auricles. According to histological and physiological examinations, the concept of a hydro-mechanical interaction between the auricle and the ventricle has been developed. It suggests that the auricle transforms the peristaltic contractions of the efferent branchial vessel into a kind of pulse wave, which causes the opening and stretching of the AV-valves during the ventricular diastole, inducing a reflex-like contraction of the ventricle. Proceeding from this hypothesis, it is assumed that the auricles are the primary pacemakers of the coleoid cephalopod systemic heart.

Harvard Citation style: Versen, B., Gokorsch, S., Luecke, J., Fiedler, A. and Schipp, R. (1997) AURICULAR-VENTRICULAR INTERACTING MECHANISMS IN THE SYSTEMIC HEART OF THE CUTTLEFISH SEPIA OFFICINALIS L. (CEPHALOPODA), Vie et Milieu // Laboratoire Arago, UniversitÉ P. et M. Curie, 47(2), pp. 123-130

APA Citation style: Versen, B., Gokorsch, S., Luecke, J., Fiedler, A., & Schipp, R. (1997). AURICULAR-VENTRICULAR INTERACTING MECHANISMS IN THE SYSTEMIC HEART OF THE CUTTLEFISH SEPIA OFFICINALIS L. (CEPHALOPODA). Vie et Milieu // Laboratoire Arago, UniversitÉ P. et M. Curie. 47(2), 123-130.