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Pulmonary Hypertension
Schindler and colleagues studied norepinephrine responses in isolated pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins, and femoral arteries taken from normal pigs from birth to adulthood and from pigs subjected to chronic hypoxia either from birth for 3 days or from 3 to 14 days of age. Normally, the contractile response of pulmonary arteries and veins to norepinephrine decreased after birth (p < 0.01), and  2-adrenoceptor–mediated relaxation increased in pulmonary arteries and veins and in femoral arteries. Hypoxic exposure from birth prevented the normal postnatal reduction in pulmonary arterial contractile response, and there was no postnatal increase in pulmonary arterial adrenoceptor–mediated relaxation. When hypoxic exposure followed a period of normal adaptation, the pulmonary arterial contractile response was not enhanced, but relaxation was significantly impaired. The response of pulmonary veins and femoral arteries was not affected by hypoxic exposure. The contractile effect of norepinephrine was 15- to 60-fold greater in isolated systemic arteries than in pulmonary arteries taken from both normal and pulmonary hypertensive piglets at all ages. The authors suggested that use of norepinephrine to manage systemic hypotension in infants and children will not compromise the pulmonary vasculature.
1 Citation displayed.
Postnatal Changes in Response to Norepinephrine in the Normal and Pulmonary Hypertensive Lung
- Margrid B. Schindler, Alison A. Hislop, and Sheila G. Haworth
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 170: 641 -646. First published online as doi:10.1164/rccm.200311-1551OC
[Abstract]
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