Biomedical subjects

S F Vatner

Publications and source records attributed to S F Vatner.

313 records · Page 18Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Regulation of large coronary vessels by adrenergic mechanisms in conscious dogs.

The effects of alpha and beta adrenergic stimulation were examined in conscious dogs on measurements of left circumflex coronary blood flow and coronary arterial diameter and on calculations of mean coronary resistance (MCR) and left circumflex coronary internal cross-sectional area (CSA). Methoxamine (50 micrograms/kg/min), after transiently increasing left circumflex coronary dimensions, induced sustained reductions in left circumflex coronary diameter (9 +/- 2%) and CSA (27 +/- 5%) at a time when mean arterial pressure rose by 65 +/- 5%, left ventricular (LV) dP/dt had decreased only slightly, and heart rate and mean coronary blood flow were at control levels. Isoproterenol, (0.1 microgram/kg/min), increased heart rate by 66 +/- 8%, LV dP/dt by 58 +/- 5%, and CSA by 17 +/- 3%, while it decreased mean arterial pressure by 12 +/- 1% and MCR by 44 +/- 5%. After beta 1 adrenergic receptor blockade and with heart rate held constant, isoproterenol did not increase LV dP/dt but decreased mean arterial pressure similarly (13 +/- 2%) and induced attenuated increases in CSA (6 +/- 1%), and decreases in MCR (17 +/- 3%). After combined beta 1 and beta 2 adrenergic receptor blockades isoproterenol induced no significant effects. Thus, in the conscious dog, large coronary vessels not only react passively to changes in aortic pressure but also undergo substantial active changes. Alpha adrenergic stimulation is sufficiently powerful to reduce CSA, despite the opposing elevation of distending pressure. Moreover, large vessels appear to be regulated by beta 1 adrenergic mediated increase in myocardial metabolic demands, as well as by beta 2 adrenergic medicated vasodilation.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cardiovascular adjustments to exercise: hemodynamics and mechanisms.

The integrated response to severe exercise involves fourfold to fivefold increases in cardiac output, which are due primarily to increases in cardiac rate and to a lesser extent to augmentation of stroke volume. The increase in stroke volume is partly due to an increase in end-diastolic cardiac size (Frank-Starling mechanism) and secondarily due to a reduction in end-systolic cardiac size. The full role of the Frank-Starling mechanism is masked by the concomitant tachycardia. The reduction in end-systolic dimensions can be related to increased contractility, mediated by beta adrenergic stimulation. Beta adrenergic blockade prevents the inotropic response, the decrease in end-systolic dimensions, and approximately 50% of the tachycardia of exercise. The enhanced cardiac output is distributed preferentially to the exercising muscles including the heart. Blood flow to the heart increases fourfold to fivefold as well, mainly reflecting the augmented metabolic requirements of the myocardium due to near maximal increases in cardiac rate and contractility. Blood flow to the inactive viscera (e.g., kidney and gastrointestinal tract) is maintained during severe exercise in the normal dog. It is suggested that local autoregulatory mechanisms are responsible for maintained visceral flow in the face of neural and hormonal autonomic drive, which acts to constrict renal and mesenteric vessels and to reduce blood flow. However, in the presence of circulatory impairment, where oxygen delivery to the exercising muscles is impaired as occurs to complete heart block where normal heart rate increases during exercise are prevented, or in congestive right heart failure, where normal stroke volume increases during exercise are impaired, or in the presence of severe anemia, where oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is limited, visceral blood flows are reduced drastically and blood is diverted to the exercising musculature. Thus,, visceral flow is normally maintained during severe exercise as long as all other compensatory mechanisms remain intact. However, when any other compensatory mechanism is disrupted (even the elimination of splenic reserve in the dog), reduction and diversion of visceral flow occur.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Autonomic control of large coronary arteries and resistance vessels.

The resistance coronary vessels as well as the large coronary arteries are regulated to a major extent by autonomic mechanisms. Neural and pharmacologic activation of alpha-adrenergic pathways can reduce coronary blood flow and the cross-sectional area of large coronary arteries, despite concomitant increases in coronary distending pressure. Activation of either beta 1- or beta 2-adrenergic receptors can induce potent dilation of both coronary resistance vessels and large coronary arteries, whereas blockade of these receptors can elicit profound constriction in the presence of elevated beta-adrenergic tone. The regulation of the coronary circulation by parasympathetic mechanism remains the most controversial, likely because of major species differences. Parasympathetic coronary dilation is uniformly observed in the dog, but in primates, important aspects of parasympathetic-mediated coronary vasoconstriction have also been demonstrated.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Direct versus indirect pressor and vasoconstrictor actions of angiotensin in conscious dogs.

To determine the importance of the direct and the indirect pressor and vasoconstrictor actions of angiotensin II (ANG II), experiments were conducted in conscious dogs 2 to 8 weeks after instrumentation with aortic catheters and aortic electromagnetic flow probes to measure arterial pressure and cardiac output. Total peripheral resistance was calculated by an on-line digital computer. Pretreatment with propranolol eliminated complicating inotropic effects of norepinephrine, released by the indirect actions of ANG II. The pressor and vasoconstrictor responses after ganglionic blockade, in either the presence or absence of arterial baroreceptor nerves, were considered to be the direct effects of ANG II. In conscious dogs, systemically administered ANG II (32 ng/kg bolus) increased mean arterial pressure by 38 +/- 3 mm Hg, total peripheral resistance by 37 +/- 2 mm Hg/L/minute, and decreased heart rate by 15 +/- 2 beats/minute. After arterial baroreceptor denervation, administration of ANG II increased mean arterial pressure by 88 +/- 7 mm Hg, total peripheral resistance by 54 +/- 4 mm Hg/L/minute, and heart rate by 12 +/- 2 beats/minute. After arterial baroreceptor denervation and ganglionic blockade with hexamethonium, administration of ANG II increased mean arterial pressure by 53 +/- 8 mm Hg, total peripheral resistance by 27 +/- 3 mm Hg/L/minute, and left heart rate unchanged. These results indicate that in the conscious dog without baroreflex buffering nearly one-half of the pressor and vasoconstrictor actions of angiotensin are not direct, but are mediated by the autonomic nervous system.

Angiotensin II↗

PubMedDate not supplied

beta-Adrenergic and cholinergic receptors in hypertension-induced hypertrophy.

Perinephritic hypertension was produced in dogs by wrapping one kidney with silk and removing the contralateral kidney 1 week later. Mean arterial pressure rose from 104 +/- 3 to 156 +/- 11 mm Hg, while left ventricular free wall weight, normalized for body weight, was increased by 49%. Muscarinic, cholinergic receptor density measured with [3H]-quinuclidinyl benzilate, fell in hypertensive left ventricles (181 +/- 19 fmol/mg, n = 6; p less than 0.01) as compared with that found in normal left ventricles (272 +/- 16 fmol/mg, n = 8), while receptor affinity was not changed. The beta-adrenergic receptor density, measured by binding studies with [3H]-dihydroalprenolol, rose in the hypertensive left ventricles (108 +/- 10 fmol/mg, n = 7; p less than 0.01) as compared with that found in normal left ventricles (68.6 +/- 5.2 fmol/mg, n = 15), while beta-adrenergic receptor affinity decreased in the hypertensive left ventricles (10.4 +/- 1.2 nM) compared with that found in the normal left ventricles (5.0 +/- 0.7 nM). Plasma norepinephrine levels were similar in the two groups, but myocardial norepinephrine levels were depressed (p less than 0.05) in dogs with hypertension. Moderate left ventricular hypertrophy induced by long-term aortic banding in dogs resulted in elevations in beta-adrenergic receptor density (115 +/- 14 fmol/mg) and decreases in affinity (10.4 +/- 2.2 nM) similar to those observed in the dogs with left ventricular hypertrophy induced by hypertension. Thus, our results suggest that perinephritic hypertension in the dog induces divergent effects on cholinergic and beta-adrenergic receptor density. The increased beta-adrenergic receptor density and decreased affinity may be a characteristic of left ventricular hypertrophy rather than hypertension.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Apoptosis of cardiac myocytes in Gsalpha transgenic mice.

-The stimulatory GTP-binding protein Gsalpha transmits signals from catecholamine receptors to activate adenylyl cyclase and thereby initiate a cascade leading to cardiac chronotropy and inotropy. Transgenic mice overexpressing the Gs alpha subunit (Gsalpha) selectively in their hearts exhibit increased cardiac contractility in response to beta-adrenergic receptor stimulation. However, with aging, these mice develop a cardiomyopathy. This study sought morphological and biochemical evidence that overexpression of Gsalpha is associated with increased myocyte apoptosis in the older animals and to determine whether such overexpression can promote apoptosis of isolated neonatal cardiac myocytes exposed to beta-adrenergic receptor agonists. In the hearts of 15- to 18-month-old Gsalpha transgenic mice, histochemistry and electron microscopy illustrated the existence of numerous myocytes with abnormal nuclei embedded in collagen-rich connective tissue. Terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL, for in situ labeling of DNA breaks) demonstrated that approximately 0.6% of myocyte nuclei contained fragmented DNA. Agarose gel electrophoresis provided further biochemical evidence of apoptosis by showing internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Cultured cardiac myocytes from newborn Gsalpha transgenic mice showed increased TUNEL staining and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation compared with wild-type controls when treated with the beta-agonist isoproterenol. Thus, enhanced activation of beta-adrenergic signaling by overexpression of Gsalpha in the hearts of transgenic mice induces apoptosis of cardiac myocytes. This represents a potential mechanism that may contribute to the development of cardiomyopathy in this model.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of a calcium channel blocker on cardiac output distribution in conscious hypertensive dogs.

The effects of nitrendipine, 8 micrograms/kg/minute, were evaluated in six conscious dogs through measurements of arterial pressure and blood flow in the ascending aorta (cardiac output), mesenteric, renal, and iliac arteries before and after induction of chronic perinephritic hypertension. Before hypertension was induced, nitrendipine reduced mean arterial pressure 19 +/- 2.3% (from 95 +/- 3.2 mm Hg), decreased total peripheral resistance (60 +/- 2.6%), and increased cardiac output (108 +/- 10.5%). These values returned to baseline within 15 to 30 minutes. Nitrendipine caused the greatest increase in blood flow in the iliac bed (98 +/- 9.9%), an intermediate increase in the mesenteric bed (37 +/- 3.7%), and the least increase in the renal bed (7 +/- 2.2%). Two to six weeks after induction of hypertension, administration of nitrendipine elicited significant (p less than 0.01) decreases in mean arterial pressure (32 +/- 2.5% from 151 +/- 4.8 mm Hg) and total peripheral resistance (67 +/- 1.3%) compared with its administration in normotensive dogs, while the increase in cardiac output was not significantly changed (111 +/- 10.9%). These changes in arterial pressure and vascular resistances also were prolonged (i.e., hemodynamics returned to baseline after 75-90 minutes). The increase in iliac (99 +/- 16.8%) and renal (9 +/- 6.1%) blood flows after nitrendipine administration in hypertensive dogs was similar to that found in the normotensive dogs, but mesenteric blood flow doubled (84 +/- 8.4%). Thus, in conscious, hypertensive dogs, nitrendipine administration appears to markedly decrease arterial pressure and total peripheral and regional resistances, which also require more time to return to baseline, but appears to increase blood flow by a greater amount only in the mesenteric bed.

Animals↗