The Cardiovascular System Guest Lecture

Heart = 13% of the animal's ability to perform work Weighs 1.1% of body weight for racehorses or 0.7% for normal horses Junctions between cells (intercalated disks) - whatever happens in a neighbouring cell, happens in that cell too Horses take breaks (skip heartbeats) Control system - muscles Brain tells the heart what the muscles tell brain Blood ow is determined by pressure and pressure doesn't know direction The arteriole is the gatekeeper that determines where the blood is going to ow to the muscle Peripheral circulation is what controls central circulation Oxygen Delivery System Respiratory system Airway Lungs Diaphragm, respiratory muscles Circulation system Heart Circulation Blood Microcirculation What can slow a horse down? Lack of energy Energetics of Exercise Aerobic Use glucose and fat Rate and substrate Highly efcient because it produces much more energy per unit of substrate As long as you can keep on supplying oxygen, you can go forever If your rate of aerobic working is limiting, you will slowly start to use anaerobic energy and produce lactate Ex. Eventer going all day Anaerobic

Can only use glucose Do not use a lot of oxygen Produces lactate (hydrogen ions) - poisoning itself Ex. Barrel horse doing a run In order to burn fat, you need oxygen. If you don't use oxygen to burn glucose, it is anaerobic. The two [always] work side-by-side Safe balance between the two (aerobic and anaerobic) for the horse Cardiovascular system delivers oxygen and removes debris from cells

Aerobic - doing work, but just doing it using oxygen; convert glucose to fats and burns fats The rate at which we're using energy exceeds the rate at which aerobic mechanisms can produce energy. Start using anaerobic energy Can be improved with training Enlargement of the heart Can work longer without tiring Developing this improved capacity to improve work takes lots of training over a long period of time (slow progressive training). Power line is mostly green because horses don't do "weightlifting" Ex. Barrels, pole bending, etc. Still stimulating aerobic work Cardiovascular training = muscle training Muscle tissue is in charge Microcirculation is the most important part of the circulatory system Circulatory system is very well-coordinated