Cardiovascular responses to arginine vasopressin blockade during acute hypoxemia in the llama fetus.
The fetal llama has a marked increase in the peripheral vascular resistance and no augmentation of brain blood flow during hypoxemia. In spite of the substantial plasma arginine-vasopressin (AVP) increase during hypoxemia, up to 8 times greater than in fetal sheep, there are no changes of carotid and femoral blood flows during hypoxemia with a V1 receptor blockade, as is seen in the fetal sheep. The aim of this study was to assess the role of AVP function in mediating the combined ventricular output and organ blood flow in the hypoxemic llama fetus. Six fetal llamas at 0.65 of gestation were instrumented under general anesthesia, and cardiorespiratory responses and blood flows determined under normoxemic and hypoxemic conditions. The AVP effect was determined using a V1 antagonist during normoxemic and hypoxemic conditions. Organ blood flows were measured with the radioactive microsphere technique. No significant differences in organ blood flow or in their vascular resistances were seen between the control and treated fetuses during hypoxemia. We conclude that V1 blockade did not have any important role in the cardiovascular response to acute hypoxemia in the llama fetus, in contrast with lowland fetuses. AVP may be playing a role in other regions, possibly in kidney or lung, during hypoxemia.
Laboratorio de Fisiología y Fisiopatología del Desarrollo, Programa de Patología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.
E A
EA
Herrera
R A
RA
Riquelme
E M
EM
Sanhueza
C
C
Gajardo
J T
JT
Parer
A J
AJ
Llanos
D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D065092:Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis / Q000662:veterinary; D002161:Camelids, New World / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology; D002302:Cardiac Output; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014469:Umbilical Arteries / Q000502:physiology*; D014655:Vascular Resistance
D065092:Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists