List the properties of the ideal inotrope (50% of marks). How does adrenaline compare with respect to these ideal properties? (50% of marks).
College Answer
Inotropes are drugs that increase the force and velocity of myocardial contraction resulting
in increased contractility and stroke volume and hence cardiac output.Good answers were
those that adopted a systematic approach, such as providing a coherent list of ideal
properties that included pharmaceutical, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics
characteristics, and then contrasted adrenaline against that list. The area less well covered
was that of those aspects of adrenaline that made it less than an ideal inotrope, e.g. it
increases myocardial oxygen consumption, causes tachyarrhythmias,tolerancemay
develop, hyperglycaemia, lactic acid production, etc