The unusual adrenergic-like excitatory action of acetylcholine on the ventricular cardiac muscle of the horned shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni.

The atypical excitatory effect of acetylcholine on cardiac ventricular muscle was investigated in the horned shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni. Electrically paced ventricular strips produced a massive 391.45% (+/-26.39%) increase in basal force of contraction in response to exogenously applied acetylcholine. The response was similar in nature to that produced by applied adrenaline, which caused a 382.52% (+/-72.47%) increase. The response to acetylcholine was blocked by the muscarinic cholinoceptor antagonist atropine and the competitive beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol and was reduced by bretylium, an agent known to inhibit the release of catecholamines from adrenergic nerves. These findings strongly suggest that acetylcholine mediates a localised release of a catecholamine via muscarinic cholinoceptors in shark heart. A cholinergically controlled catecholamine store has been proposed (cholinergic-adreno complex), implying that elasmobranchs may be capable of finer control of cardiac output than has previously been suspected. This complex may represent a transitional adrenergic state between humoral and neuronal regulation. The spontaneously beating atrium showed no evidence of such an excitatory response to applied acetylcholine but produced an atropine-sensitive slowing, a response typical of other vertebrates.