The seventh starling

The Frank--Starling curve.

A basic property of the normal heart is that if its volume is increased, there is an increase in the strength of the contraction. The phenomenon is known as Starling's Law, and as the FrankStarling mechanism. This phenomenon is of great importance. If the heart were unable to increase its output when distended, the distension would become progressively severe. The underlying important relation ...

The Reunion Starling

The Magnificent Seventh

Important publications describing the effects of cytokines in the nervous system are demanding increasing amounts of our attention these days. Consider, for example, the chemotactic cytokines or chemokines. These small proteins have been extensively studied because of their importance in regulating leukocyte migration and inflammation. Approximately 50 different chemokines have been shown to ex...

Reappraising Starling: the physiology of the microcirculation.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Vascular permeability is traditionally explained by Starling's principle, describing two opposing forces across the endothelial cell line to maintain compartments in balance. Several contradictions to this principle have recently questioned its validity. RECENT FINDINGS Hydraulic conductivity is kept low by a properly working endothelial surface layer, created by binding and...

Starling and the Concept of Heart Failure

ERNEST HENRY STARLING has probably contributed more than any man to our understanding of heart failure. Thus his early experiments on edema formation and his assessment of the factors concerned have formed the basis for all subsequent work on this subject. His work with Patterson and Piper1 2 on the mechanical factors involved in the response of the heart to changes in load have formed the basi...