Pharmacology of Cardiac Function brings together the proceedings of the Second International Pharmacological Meeting of the International Union of Physiological Sciences, held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on August 20-23, 1963. The meeting provided a forum for discussing advances in the understanding of the pharmacology of cardiac function and addressed topics ranging from the link between muscle physiology and the heart to the development of tension in cardiac muscle. This volume is comprised of 21 chapters and begins with an overview of the structural aspects of contraction in cardiac and skeletal muscle, followed by a description of muscle physiology and its effect on the heart. The next section deals with the effects of drugs on the interval-strength relationship of heart muscle, paying particular attention to acetylstrophanthidin, levarterenol, and carbacliol as well as metabolic inhibitors. The nature of the restitution process occurring between beats in cardiac muscle is also considered. Subsequent chapters explore how the heart is affected by the action of the vagus and of acetylcholine and other parasympathomimetic drugs; membrane effects of epinephrine and digitalis; and the mode of action of antifibrillatory drugs. This book will be of particular value to pharmacologists and physiologists.
