Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Affecting the contraction of muscle, especially heart muscle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Impairing the contractile power of muscular tissue. See the extract.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Affecting the force of muscle contraction. e.g. inotropic heart drugs

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek īs, īn-, tendon, sinew; see wei- in Indo-European roots + –tropic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From ino- + -tropic

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Examples

  • These drugs, known as inotropic agents, make the heart beat harder.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com R.Ph. Suzy Cohen 2011

  • We also continued work with ryanodine, which produced a negative inotropic effect on the guinea-pig atrium and actually changed the force-frequency effect from a positive to negative staircase

    Robert F. Furchgott - Autobiography 1999

  • We also reported on the effects of anaerobiosis and of a number of positive and negative inotropic agents.

    Robert F. Furchgott - Autobiography 1999

  • We showed that the positive inotropic effects of norepinephrine and strophanthin-K were correlated with an increase in rate of exchange of calcium in an intracellular pool associated with the contractile process and that the negative inotropic effects of acetylcholine and adenosine were correlated with a decrease in rate of exchange in that pool.

    Robert F. Furchgott - Autobiography 1999

  • We collaborated with my good friend William Sleator of the Physiology Department in the study of changes in cellular action potentials (measured with intracellular microelectrodes) associated with the changes in contractility of the guinea pig atrium in response to epinephrine and acetylcholine, and a number of other inotropic agents.

    Robert F. Furchgott - Autobiography 1999

  • Patients with heart failure, chronic coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathy should take D-ribose to offset the energy-draining effects of inotropic drugs such as digoxin.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com R.Ph. Suzy Cohen 2011

  • According to the researchers, apelin, known to be a potent inotropic agent, was recently recognized as an important regulator of myocardial cell specification and heart development.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • A separate study carried out by researchers in the Peoples 'Republic of China found that apelin, a newly described inotropic peptide, improves heart function following transplantation of BMMCs.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Apelin, a newly described inotropic peptide (related to the force of heart muscle contraction) with important cardiovascular regulatory properties, contributes to functional improvement in patients with severe heart failure after they have undergone implantation with bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC).

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • ICa than was needed for CCh's negative inotropic effect on atrial muscle suggesting that neither IK, CCh nor ICa alone can mediate CCh's actions but they might synergistically reduce

    BioMed Central - Latest articles Matti Vornanen 2010

Comments

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  • If a heart has a feeble or slow tick

    There's a tried and a true medico trick.

    They virtually seize it

    And rhythmically squeeze it

    With drugs that are called inotropic.

    February 26, 2017