THE EFFECTS OF HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK UPON BLOOD PRESSURE RESPONSES TO ADRENERGIC AGENTS AND UPON TISSUE CATECHOLAMINES

¹ Department of Pharmacology, Marquette School of Medicine, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

In dogs subjected to standardized hemorrhagic shock, the pressor responses to injected norepinephrine, epinephrine and tyramine were found to be markedly reduced immediately after reinfusion of blood. In most experiments, the responses to norepinephrine and to epinephrine gradually returned toward prehemorrhage levels over a period of several hours whereas the responses to tyramine further declined. The content of catecholamines fell markedly in heart, spleen and adrenal 6 hr after reinfusion whereas that in the aorta did not. Some changes in the ratio of norepinephrine to epinephrine indicate a tissue uptake of epinephrine from the adrenal discharge.