1. Cardiac output increased in proportion to oxygen consumption in intact chloralose-anaesthetized dogs after four successive intravenous infusions of 2,4-dinitrophenol (11 μmol/kg; 2 mg/kg).
2. Splenectomy abolished the increase in cardiac output after the first three doses of 2,4-dinitrophenol. β-Adrenoreceptor blockade by practolol, on the other hand, did not prevent the cardiac output rise after the first 2,4-dinitrophenol infusion, but further increases by 2,4-dinitrophenol infusion were abolished. When splenectomy and β-adrenoreceptor blockade were combined, cardiac output did not increase significantly after all four doses of 2,4-dinitrophenol.
3. Cardiac output and mean systemic arterial blood pressure increased when the splenic venous blood collected after 2,4-dinitrophenol infusion was infused intraportally.
4. In a vascularly isolated, but normally innervated, lower half-body cross-perfusion preparation, cardiac output and mean systemic arterial blood pressure increased in the upper half-body when tissue hypermetabolism was produced in the cross-perfused area by 2,4-dinitrophenol. Neither pulmonary artery wedge pressure nor heart rate changed significantly.
5. This circulatory stimulation, after regional 2,4-dinitrophenol infusion, was abolished or was prevented from occurring by splenectomy.
6. It appears that the normal cardiac output response to tissue hypermetabolism requires both an intact spleen and normally functioning β-adrenoreceptors.
Systemic arterial blood pressure determines the therapeutic window of non-selective beta blockers in decompensated cirrhosis
