Hydraulic forces used in mechanical apparatus, like in car brakes and jacks, may also help hearts to fill blood. Researchers from Sweden have explained in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, that examining these hydraulic forces can help explore new ways of treating heart failure.
The mechanisms that cause blood to flow into the ventricles of the heart during which it fills up has only been partly understood till now, the researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden said.
The team measured the size of both the upper and lower chambers of the heart during the blood-filling process using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. The upper chambers of the heart are called atria, while the lower chambers are called ventricles. They found that an atrium is smaller throughout the process of blood filling inside the heart.
Hydraulic force is the pressure a liquid exerts on an area. The Swedish scientists believe the size difference between the upper and lower chambers of the heart help build force to fill blood inside the heart.
“The geometry of the heart thus determines the magnitude of the force,” the team said.
Dr Matin Ugander who led the research group said, “Our observation is exciting since it can lead to new types of therapies for heart failure involving trying to reduce the size of the atrium.”
The protein titin in the heart muscle cells has been known to help the heart muscles during the filling of the blood. But the Swedish researchers believe that hydraulic forces are equally instrumental.
Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump sufficient quantities of blood around the body, often during the phase when the blood fills inside the heart. The heart failure often occurs in combination with an enlarged atrium, which the scientists believe reduces hydraulic force and this the heart’s ability to be filled with blood.
Here is the video explaining on how hydraulic forces aid the heart’s functions:
