Canine hindlimb blood flow and O2 uptake after inhibition of EDRF/NO synthesis.

The nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) was used to determine whether the decrease in canine hindlimb blood flow (QL) with NOS inhibition would limit skeletal muscle O2 uptake (VO2). Arterial inflow and venous outflow from the hindlimb were isolated, and the paw was excluded from the circulation. Pump perfusion from the right femoral artery kept the hindlimb perfusion pressure near the auto-perfused level. Six anesthetized dogs received L-NAME (20 mg/kg i.v.), whereas another group of five dogs received the stereospecific enantiomer N omega-nitro-D-arginine methyl ester (D-NAME 20 mg/kg i.v.). Efficacy of NOS inhibition was tested with intra-arterial boluses of acetylcholine. QL was measured continuously, and whole body and hindlimb VO2 were measured 60 and 120 min after L-NAME or D-NAME. Whole body VO2 remained at control levels, but cardiac output decreased from 117 +/- 17 to 57 +/- 7 ml.kg-1.min-1 60 min after L-NAME (P < 0.05) and remained at that level for the duration of the experiment. Cardiac output was significantly higher in the D-NAME group than in the L-NAME group at 60 min. After L-NAME, QL fell 24% but VO2 increased from 5.2 +/- 0.4 to 7.4 +/- 0.6 ml.kg-1.min-1 (P < 0.05). No change in QL or VO2 occurred after D-NAME. NOS inhibition did not limit hindlimb VO2, despite decreases in blood flow.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Circulatory and metabolic responses to carbon monoxide hypoxia during beta-adrenergic blockade.

The role(s) of beta-adrenoceptors in whole body and hindlimb skeletal muscle cardiovascular and metabolic responses during carbon monoxide hypoxia (COH) was studied in anesthetized dogs. One group of animals was beta-blocked with propranolol (beta 1- and beta 2-blockade), a second was given ICI 118,551 (beta 2-blockade), and a third served as a time control. Immediately after a control-sampling period, COH was induced (about a 63% decrease in arterial O2 content), and additional measurements were then obtained at 30 and 60 min of hypoxia. Cardiac output values were not different between the three series at control; an increase (P less than 0.05) occurred in all groups during COH. This rise was greatest in the COH group; the values for the propranolol- and ICI 118,551-blocked groups were not different from each other during COH. Hindlimb blood flow rose (P less than 0.05) during COH only in the control group. Both whole body (30 min) and hindlimb (30 and 60 min) resistance values were greater during hypoxia in the beta-blocked groups (P less than 0.05) than in the control series. Furthermore, whole body oxygen uptake decreased (P less than 0.05) in both beta-blocked groups during COH. We conclude that approximately 35% of the rise in cardiac output occurring during COH depended on peripheral vasodilation mediated through beta 2-adrenoceptors.

Bath rewarming from immersion hypothermia.

Trunk-only bath rewarming has often been recommended over whole-body bath rewarming as a method for the treatment of immersion hypothermia. At present, no report of a direct comparison of the relative merits of these techniques has been made. Authorities in favor of trunk-only bath rewarming base their proposal on the assumption that core temperature afterdrop would be minimized by preventing peripheral vasodilation when the subject's limbs are not immersed in the rewarming bath. In the present study, trunk-only and whole-body bath rewarming are compared by rewarming eight mildly hypothermic male subjects twice, once via each technique. It was concluded that trunk-only rewarming is not superior to whole-body bath rewarming as a therapy for mild immersion hypothermia, based on the findings that no significant differences existed between the two techniques, either in size or duration of core temperature afterdrop, or in rate of rewarming.