On the first paper in Cardiovascular Research: Frequency, force, and beyond

Abstract

The force–frequency effect was the subject of the first paper published in the inaugural issue of Cardiovascular Research in 1967 (Ref. [1]; see Fig. 1). As a co-author with a longstanding interest in this topic, I was asked by the managing editor, Elizabeth Martinson to comment on this publication and on other research in which I was involved during that period at the Cardiology Branch of the then National Heart Institute in Bethesda. It was an exhilarating time for those involved in the (some might say somewhat excessive) outpouring of laboratory and clinical research papers. That first Cardiovascular Research publication arose from the then-prevalent interest in studying the strength-interval relations of cardiac muscle, a term which encompasses such phenomena as postextrasystolic potentiation, poststimulation potentiation and effects of changing the frequency of stimulation. John Blinks, a leader in that field [2], had visited the NIH, and I found his talk concerning studies in isolated cardiac muscle of great interest. It had been difficult to demonstrate the contractile effect of increasing cardiac frequency by electrical pacing on the intact heart because of the accompanying changes in cardiac loading conditions, particularly reduced preload. This study established that increased heart rate has a positive inotropic effect in the whole heart by demonstrating, in a setting of controlled preload coupled with induced single isovolumetric beats of the left ventricle, that peak tension and the rate of tension development increased, with reduced time to peak tension, … * 8599 Prestwick Drive, La Jolla, California 92037, United States. Tel./fax: +1 858 453 0166. jlross{at}ucsd.edu