Hepatic effects of influxed endothelin-1 from portal vein: in situ portal vein infusion model using dogs.
OBJECTIVE
Endothelin-1 is a potent vasoconstrictor formed by vascular endothelium. This study was designed to investigate the hepatic effect of endothelin-1 produced by portal vascular endothelium.


METHODS
Portal venous pressure, portal venous flow, hepatic arterial flow, tissue blood flow, and tissue oxygen pressure were measured during portal vein endothelin-1 infusion in dogs at rates of 1.0 to 5.0 ng/kg per minute. Sinusoidal width during maximal infusion was determined morphometrically. Serum concentrations of mitochondrial glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and endothelin-1 in portal and hepatic venous blood were also measured.


RESULTS
Intraportal endothelin-1 infusion dose-dependently increased portal venous pressure and reduced portal venous and hepatic arterial blood flow. Tissue blood flow and oxygen pressure also decreased. Endothelin-1 also significantly increased serum mitochondrial glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and constricted hepatic sinusoids. These changes reversed after completion of infusion.


CONCLUSIONS
Intraportal endothelin-1 caused circulatory and histological changes in hepatic sinusoids that may suggest the role of endothelin-1 formed by portal venous bed epithelium.
First Department of Surgery, Hyogo College of Medicine, 1-1 Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan.
Nobukazu
N
Kuroda
Junichi
J
Yamanaka
Toshihiro
T
Okada
Tadamichi
T
Hirano
Yuji
Y
Iimuro
Jiro
J
Fujimoto
D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D004285:Dogs; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000187:drug effects*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors
D019332:Endothelin-1; D010100:Oxygen