Cardiac Pharmacology Journal
The
cardiovascular system consists of a complex array of pipes (vessels), flexible tubing (smooth muscle capable of constriction and relaxation), flow restrictors (venous and cardiac valves), and a mechanical pump (myocardium). Therefore, basic principles of receptor
pharmacology are presented briefly to provide a foundation for discussing individual
cardiovascular medications. Once these principles are established, the discussion turns to perioperative chronic cardiac medications, followed by intraoperative acute cardiac medications, and finally ends with protocols for drug therapy within specific clinical situations. Because
cardiovascular pharmacology is a vast discipline, whenever possible only pertinent reviews are cited, enabling the reader to delve further while providing the broadest and simplest overview possible. The autonomic nervous system consists of two major components: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.Major efferents of both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system originate in the brain, travel in the anterolateral columns of the
spinal cord (albeit each at different levels), and use acetylcholine (ACh) because the neurotransmitter at the extent of the ganglion, but they utilize different neurotransmitters at the neuroeffector junction located within the target tissue. Specifically, efferent sympathetic fibers (which travel predominantly in thoracolumbar regions of the spinal cord) operate with norepinephrine as the neurotransmitter at the effector junction. Parasympathetic efferents (which travel predominantly in cervical and sacral regions of the spinal cord) utilize ACh because the neurotransmitter at both the ganglion and therefore the neuroeffector junction.
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