Cardiac Output Lab Report

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Chase Sanchez Biology 202 September 2015 Effects of Exercise on Cardiac Output INTRODUCTION Blood flow to the muscles has been shown to increase with exercise (Lombardo, Rose, Taeschler, Tuluy, Bing, 1953). In this experiment, “blood flow” can be roughly measured as “Mean Arterial Pressure”. Mean Arterial Pressure is defined as the average blood pressure in the arteries throughout the entire cardiac cycle. This can be measured by multiplying “Cardiac Output” by “Total Peripheral Resistance”. Cardiac Output in essence is the volume of blood pumped by the heart in one minute, which can be written as the “Stroke volume (milliliters of blood per beat)” multiplied by “Heart rate (heart beats per minute). “Total Peripheral Resistance” can be defined …show more content…

While both subjects showed an increase in cardiac output with increased exercise intensity, only Chase showed an overall increase in Mean Arterial Pressure. This disparity in Chelsea’s numbers arose from the rise in pulse pressure of the second bout of exercise. The Total Peripheral Resistance was inverted in both subjects. While Chelsea showed the predicted decrease in Total Peripheral Resistance, Chase showed a continuous increase. At level 1 (50rpm), Chelsea exhibited a 7.5% increase in Cardiac Output, a 1.158% increase in Mean Arterial Pressure, and a decrease of 5.84% in Total Peripheral Resistance relative to her baseline. At level 2 (100rpm), Cardiac Output increased by 26.25%, Mean Arterial Pressure increased by 0.382% (a decrease from Level 1), and an increase of 20.78% in Total Peripheral Resistance relative to her baseline. At level 1 (50rpm), Chelsea exhibited a 9.2% increase in Cardiac Output, a 19.91% increase in Mean Arterial Pressure, and an increase of 6.02% in Total Peripheral Resistance relative to his baseline. At level 2 (100rpm), Cardiac Output increased by 10.8%, Mean Arterial Pressure increased by 16.37% (a decrease from Level 1), and an increase of 7.83% in Total Peripheral Resistance relative to his …show more content…

The prediction that as Cardiac Output increases, Total Peripheral Resistance must decrease for Mean Arterial Pressure to increase was not supported by the results of the experiment. For the results to concur with the prediction, Chase’s Total Peripheral Resistance needed to decrease as Cardiac Output increased for Mean Arterial pressure to increase. Improvements to the design of the experiment could include: a greater sample size, higher and increased number of exercise intensities (i.e. 50rpm, 70rpm, 100rpm, and 130rpm). Most of the quantitative data adds up to a well-supported prediction, but simple errors in the experiment such as too low of an intensity could have interfered with the final calculations. Pulse pressure in Chase’s Level 1 bout decreased, causing confusion. A greater sample size of subjects may help support the hypothesis better by eliminating anomalies in the data. More exercise intensities could show a more consistent overall change in each of the measurements. Stroke volume was also something not discussed; because Chase’s heart rate was significantly lower at rest, the stroke volume may have been higher than

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