Abstract
The biophysical and biochemical mechanisms that govern cardiac muscle function change with age resulting in characteristic alterations in muscle function (22). This chapter reviews our present understanding of how the excitation, activation, and contraction mechanisms in cardiac muscle change with senescence. Many of the studies discussed here measured cardiac muscle function in thin trabeculae or papillary muscles that had been removed from the heart and superfused in physiologic saline. In these preparations the cardiac systole is simulated as a twitch or contraction elicited by an action potential that occurs in response to external electrical stimulation. A brief summary of the mechanisms that underlie the coupling of cardiac excitation, activation, and contraction is useful for an integrated interpretation of studies that have examined the impact of age on these mechanisms.
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