Increased pulmonary vascular capacitance with β-adrenergic receptor stimulation: an experimental study of the effect of isoproterenol on the pulmonary vascular volume–pressure relationship
The present study is an investigation of the effect of β-adrenergic receptor stimulation by isoproterenol on pulmonary vascular capacitance. The experiments were done in six intact-chest, anaesthetized dogs in which pulmonary and cardiac blood volumes were assessed by blood pool scintigraphy. Isoproterenol (0.150 μg∙kg−1∙min−1) significantly (p < 0.005) lowered pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PPCW) and pulmonary artery pressure (PPA) but did not significantly change pulmonary blood volume (PBV). Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and total cardiac volume both significantly (p < 0.005) decreased. Pulmonary vascular volume – pressure (V–P) relationships before and during isoproterenol were described by means of blood transfusions and hemorrhage. In individual dogs the PBV–PPCW and the PBV–(PPCW + PPA)/2 relationships were significantly shifted upward by isoproterenol (p < 0.05 or less); slope changes were variable. Pooled data from all dogs also showed a significant (p < 0.001) upward shift in the pulmonary vascular V–P relationship regardless of which measure of distending pressure was used. These results suggest that β-receptor stimulation by isoproterenol increases pulmonary vascular capacitance by increasing the unstressed volume.