Faculty

Eric O. Feigl
Professor
M.D. University of Minnesota, 1958
Office phone: (206) 543-1496
efeigl@u.washington.edu

Community of Science page

 

CORONARY PHYSIOLOGY; CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY

The blood vessels that perfuse the heart course over its surface like a crown; whence the term that applies to those vessels - coronary. The heart muscle depends on oxygen on a beat-to-beat basis, and even brief periods without blood flow are injurious. Since the heart supplies its own blood, compromising the coronary circulation lessens the pumping power of the heart, which further impairs coronary blood flow to further weaken the heart and so on in a vicious circle. This is why a coronary occlusion is a medical emergency.

Coronary blood flow is controlled by intrinsic local factors in the heart muscle, or myocardium, and extrinsic parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves. Both intrinsic and extrinsic coronary control mechanisms are being studied in my laboratory. The role of adenosine in local control of coronary blood flow is investigated with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The synergistic action of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the local control of coronary vasodilation and the recently discovered endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) is under investigation, and the role of sympathetic coronary vasoconstriction during exercise has been examined. Therefore, all aspects of coronary physiology are being investigated, from microvascular exchange and local metabolic factors to neural parasympathetic and sympathetic control.