Evaluation of hemostatic activity of desamino-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) in uremic rats.
DDAVP, an analog of vasopressin, has been shown to have hemostatic activity. Although it has been used clinically to control bleeding, there have been very few attempts to characterize this agent in experimental animals. We describe a new animal model which is fast, reliable and inexpensive, and which may be used to screen novel analogs of the peptide. Under sodium pentobarbital anesthesia, rats were bilaterally nephrectomized and implanted with indwelling intravenous cannulae. The next day they were re-anesthetized, a standardized cut was made in the tail and the tail was allowed to bleed into warm isotonic saline (25 ml). After 10 min., the tail was removed from the saline and the blood loss was measured either by laser nephelometry or by colorimetric analysis. DDAVP was then injected intravenously and the rat was allowed to rest quietly for 30 min., after which time a second incision was made in the tail and blood loss again measured for 10 min. Unlike bleeding time which was highly variable, blood loss proved to be a reliable index of the hemostatic activity. Thus we were able to demonstrate that DDAVP reduced blood loss in the uremic rats, whereas it was without effect in intact rats.
Kaufman
S
S
475 Heritage Medical Research Center, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Stewart
M
M
Gordon
P A
PA
D000818:Animals; D001760:Bleeding Time; D003894:Deamino Arginine Vasopressin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006490:Hemostatics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014511:Uremia / Q000150:complications*
D006490:Hemostatics; D003894:Deamino Arginine Vasopressin