Aims

To better understand the important properties of heart muscle.

This will be achieved by studying the results of a number of simple experiments on the denervated frog heart:

1. Autonomic nervous control of the heart - effect of adrenaline (sympathomimetic) and acetylcholine (parasympathomimetic).
2. Adaptation of the amphibian heart to changes in environmental temperature.
3. The electrical properties of cardiac muscle - the refractory period.
4. The electrical conducting pathway in the frog heart - experiments with Stannius ligatures.