title: Ethanol modulation of plasma norepinephrine response to trauma and hemorrhage.
abstract: Does ethanol affect the adrenergic response to trauma? In 52 trauma victims, grouped according to blood ethanol concentrations, we found there was a significantly higher mean plasma norepinephrine (NE) concentration in heavy imbibers than in those with no detectable blood ethanol (790 +/- 84 pg/ml vs. 1,260 +/- 310; p = 0.02). To control confounding variables such as intensity of pain, injury severity, etc., we selected blood loss (0.9% body weight over 15 min), as an aspect of trauma to study in six normal subjects before and after ingestion of 6 oz and 10 oz of 86-proof liquor on successive days. As expected, the increase in plasma NE upon assumption of an upright position was accentuated by blood loss, (384 +/- 43 pg/ml prebleed; 694 +/- 16 post-bleed; p = 0.001). The postural or hypovolemic effect on plasma NE was enhanced by ingestion of ethanol at 6 oz prebleed (529 +/- 42 pg/ml pre-ethanol vs. 732 +/- 64 post ethanol; p = 0.02) or at 10 oz post-bleed (694 +/- 16 pg/ml vs. 1,154 +/- 166; p = 0.04). There was an approximate dose-response effect of ethanol on plasma NE under all conditions; for example, post-bleeding upright NE: 717 +/- 57, no ethanol; 1,045 +/- 221, 6 oz ethanol, and 1,257 +/- 182, 10 oz ethanol. Plasma epinephrine concentrations were not significantly affected by positional changes, blood loss, or ethanol consumption.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298-0001.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Newsome
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000097:blood; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood*; D011187:Posture; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine