Dictionary > Starlings law

Starlings law

Definition
noun
Starling’s law states that the force of contraction depends on the length of muscle fibers of the heart wall.
Supplement
The greater the stretch of cardiac muscle, the greater the force of contraction. This means that when there is an unusual increase in volume of blood entering the heart, the ventricular wall stretches causing the cardiac muscle to contract more forcefully (also known as the Frank-Starling mechanisms). Since there is an increase of the load experienced by each muscle fiber the result is greater heart contraction and beat.
Word origin: named after the two physiologists, Otto Frank and Ernest Starling who first described it.
Also called: law of the heart, Frank-Starling law of the heart.

Last updated on February 26th, 2021

You will also like...

Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand
New Zealand’s Unique Geographical History

Explore why New Zealand has such unique flora and fauna, and learn why long periods of geographical isolation. This less..

Developmental Biology
Developmental Biology

Developmental biology is a biological science that is primarily concerned with how a living thing grows and attains matu..

Non-Mendelian Inheritance
Non-Mendelian Inheritance

In this tutorial, find out more about certain types of inheritance that does not follow the Mendelian inheritance patter..

Sensory systems
Sensory Systems

A sensory system is a part of the nervous system consisting of sensory receptors that receive stimuli from the internal ..

sponge
Primitive Animals

Life, as we know it today, is presumed to have started in the sea and many of them were likely eukaryotic animal-like or..

The process of photosynthesis
Photosynthesis – Photolysis and Carbon Fixation

Photosynthesis is the process that plants undertake to create organic materials from carbon dioxide and water, with the ..