BIOSE 162a Review: Cardiovascular Pathophysiology

1September 19, 2011

Article: Psychological Stress and Cardiovascular Disease

• Q: What is the effect of psychological stressors (acute and chronic) on the heart?

Myocardial infarction

• Blood flow to a part of your heart is blocked:

Pulmonary Embolism

• Blood flow to a part of your lungs is blocked:

Response to stress: change in perfusion of heart (decrease) similar

to exercise

Response to stress: change in S-T segment length

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te_SY3MeWys

Response to stress: decreased ejection fraction

Quiz! (From last week’s lecture)

Q: What changes would you expect to see in this table if applied to a

developing country?

-Lower life expectancy at birth, as you age you should see an increase in life expectancy

Q: What are some explanations for why we are seeing a drop in life

expectancy at age zero in the US?

• We’re trying to save younger and younger preemies because we have the technology

T/F: Inflammation, triggered by necrosis and apoptosis, signals

removal of a damaged cell

• False: inflammation does not occur as a result of apoptosis, since apoptosis is “programmed cell death” and the cell is never ruptured.

Q: What are the two major types of cells in the immune response and

what do they do?

• Neutrophils: promote inflammation, phagocytize and destroy bacteria using degradative enzymes

• Macrophages: derived from monocytes, help neutrophils to destroy foreign cells and particles.

Q: A patient comes into a clinic complaining of sore joints and has a

low fever. Why check his throat?• The strep pathogen mimics cells of our own

body. Therefore, when the immune system attacks the pathogen, it also attacks the body, causing rheumatic disease.

Q: What is the organ in red, which processes emotional fear and is thought to affect stress levels?

• The amygdala. This organ sends signals related to emotional stimuli to the sensory cortices, where they can be interpreted.

Q: What are some short-term responses to stress that may cause

long-term harmful effects?

• Increased gluconeogenesis• Increased cortisol levels• Mobilization of amino acids

Q: Who is more likely to manifest sex-linked traits, males or females?

• Males, because sex-linked traits are generally on the x chromosome, and if there is a defect on one x chromosome of a female the other one will dominate.