The history of the Czech and Slovak experimental cardiology describes a completely unusual curve. The personality of J.E. Purkynje caused this field to reach unprecedented peak at the very beginning of its modern history. The development of experimental cardiology after the death of the great scholar was certainly not linear. Just when it seemed to be raising its head, the German occupation came. Its second hopeful awakening was delayed for a long time by forty years of isolation. The significant limitation of foreign contacts gradually led to the loss of hopefully developing contacts, to professional isolation and lagging behind the stormy development of world science. At the moment of greatest depression, in 1971, in Prague there was created a professional forum that was supposed to enable its intellectual survival and reduce the negative consequences of the "splendid isolation". The Society of Experimental Cardiology (SEC) was founded at the Czechoslovak Physiological Society of the Czechoslovak Medical Society J.E. Purkynje, with the main task of introducing theoretical and clinical cardiologists to the advances in world cardiology. The first meeting was held in 1973 and in 2023 we celebrated already the 50th anniversary of SEC. Moreover, nowadays we see the increasing interest of the young researchers, both experimental and clinical cardiologists, who consider SEC a very attractive platform for their education and professional growth. Key words: Experimental cardiology, Czech and Slovak Society, History, Relationship to clinical cardiology.

• MeSH
• Biomedical Research * history   MeSH
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Cardiology * history   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Societies, Medical * history   MeSH
• Check Tag
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Historical Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Slovakia MeSH

In 2023, six decades have elapsed since the first experimental work on the heart muscle was published, in which a member of the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences participated as an author; Professor Otakar Poupa was the founder and protagonist of this research domain. Sixty years - more than half of the century - is certainly significant enough anniversary that is worth looking back and reflecting on what was achieved during sometimes very complicated periods of life. It represents the history of an entire generation of experimental cardiologists; it is possible to learn from its successes and mistakes. The objective of this review is to succinctly illuminate the scientific trajectory of an experimental cardiological department over a 60-year span, from its inaugural publication to the present. The old truth - historia magistra vitae - is still valid. Keywords: Heart, Adaptation, Development, Hypoxia, Protection.

• MeSH
• Academies and Institutes * history   MeSH
• Biomedical Research * history   trends   MeSH
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Physiology history   MeSH
• Cardiology history   trends   MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Heart physiology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Historical Article MeSH
• Review MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH