Determinants of end-systolic pressure during different load alterations in the in situ left ventricle

Because of the strong dependency of the end-systolic pressure-volume relation on the type of transient loading intervention in the in situ left ventricle (LV), experiments in the basal inotropic state in 16 open-chest anesthetized dogs were reanalyzed to find additional variables to model and predict end-systolic pressure (ESP) of both afterloading and preloading interventions by a single equation. Random-coefficients regression analysis was performed on 22 experiments in the basal inotropic state simultaneously, yielding an overall R2 of 0.97. The major part of total variance of ESP was due to linear terms of end-systolic volume (ESV) (74%) and stroke volume (SV) (19%). The SV effect was consistently negative and quantitatively quite important. An average load-independent end-systolic elastance of 6.7 mmHg/ml and an average SV effect of -5.7 mmHg/ml ejected were estimated, separating the “force-length” property from shortening effects in the in situ LV. History-related effects appeared to be only minor.