The American journal of physiology
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An organism's cardiovascular response to sepsis is at least partly dependent on hormonal and neural modulation of myocardial function. We have investigated both intrinsic myocardial performance and one aspect of myocardial sensitivity to beta-adrenergic stimulation in a model of sepsis in which animals, at the time studied, exhibited bacteremia, normal arterial blood pressure and cardiac output, elevated heart rate, and elevated plasma catecholamines. Intrinsic myocardial contractile function, studied with the isolated, perfused working heart preparation, was depressed over a range of preloads in septic animals, whereas heart rate was elevated. ⋯ In isolated right atria from septic animals, basal rates were also elevated and the EC50 for the chronotropic response to isoproterenol was significantly less than in atria from control animals. The maximal heart rate response to isoproterenol was not significantly different from control. These results indicate that in sepsis, despite apparently adequate in vivo cardiac performance, intrinsic myocardial function is depressed, but chronotropic sensitivity to beta-adrenergic stimulation is increased.