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Dual Effects of Dopamine on the Adult Heart of the Isopod Crustacean Ligia exotica

Abstract In the adult heart of the isopod crustacean Ligia exotica, the cardiac ganglion acts as the primary pacemaker with the myocardium having a latent pacemaker property. We show several lines of evidence that dopamine modulates the heartbeat of adult L. exotica affecting both pacemaker sites in the heart. Dopamine caused positive chronotropic (frequency increase) and inotropic (amplitude increase) effects on the heartbeat in a concentration dependent manner. The time courses of these effects were considerably different and the inotropic effect appeared later and lasted longer than the chronotropic effect. Dopamine rapidly increased the frequency of the bursting activity in the cardiac ganglion neurons and each impulse burst of the cardiac ganglion was always followed by a heartbeat. Moreover, dopamine slowly increased the amplitude and duration of the action potential plateau (plateau potential) of the myocardium. When the myocardial pacemaker activity was induced by application of tetrodotoxin, which suppresses cardiac ganglion activity, dopamine slowly increased the amplitude and duration of the myocardial plateau potential while decreasing its frequency. These results suggest that dopamine modulates the heartbeat in adult L. exotica producing a dual effect on the two pacemaker sites in the heart, the cardiac ganglion and myocardium.