Effect of autonomic blockade on the hemodynamic findings in acute cardiac tamponade.
Twenty-three closed-chest, alpha-chloralose-anesthetized, volume-expanded, alpha- and beta-adrenergic-blockaded dogs with rate fixed by atrial pacing had 30-90 ml of saline at 37 degrees C infused into the pericardial sac a) with vagus intact, b) after vagotomy, and c) with vagus intact but with systolic pressure augmented with a balloon. A significant reduction in left ventricular (LV) systolic pressure (SP), and cardiac output (CO) occurred at a pericardial volume of 30-60 ml, when LV end-diastolic (ED) and right atrial (RA) pressures were not increased. Whereas the percentage decline of CO, LVSP, maximum negative and maximum positive dP/dt was greater in group A (vagus intact) than in group B (vagus cut), significant residual depressed performance was demonstrated only in group B. In four paced, atropinized, beta-blockaded dogs, response to tamponade was similar to that in intact dogs; vagotomy at 90 ml in these dogs resulted in a fall in CO, a rise of LVSP and a significant elevation in LVED and RA pressures. Thus, in the early phases of cardiac tamponade a sympathetic neurohumoral response supports cardiac performance while the vagus nerve exerts a myocardial protective effect. Vagal afferents appear to modulate this response.
D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000187:drug effects; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004285:Dogs; D006439:Hemodynamics; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D014628:Vagotomy
D000317:Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists