THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF ADRENAL CORTEX EXTRACTS IN STANDARDIZED HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK

¹ From the Department of Physiology, Western Reserve University Medical School, Cleveland, Ohio

1. Technical details are given regarding a method for producing irreversible hemorrhagic shock by a two-stage bleeding and production of successive 50 mm. and 30 mm. hypertensions for definite periods.

2. Using this technique for producing standardized hemorrhagic shock in a new series of 21 control dogs, 76.5% succumbed either from a precipitant or delayed circulatory failure after reinfusion of all the blood withdrawn.

3. Dogs pretreated and/or treated with ACE during the stage of moderate hypotension showed a 75% mortality. The incidence of a precipitant shock was greater and the pathological congestion and hemorrhagic tendency of the upper intestine and endocardium appeared to be more pronounced.

4. A study of consecutive changes in auricular and effective venous pressures showed no difference in treated and nontreated dogs. When, toward the end, circulatory failure had supervened, effective venous pressures were sometimes above and sometimes below starting pressures in untreated animals but generally below original pressures in dogs treated with ACE. Development of precipitant shock or maintenance of an efficient circulation were not related to the trends of venous pressure.

5. On the basis of the incidence of irreversible circulatory failure, the course in its development, changes in venous pressures and pathological appearances at necropsy, we were unable to detect any beneficial effects from pretreatment or treatment of dogs with large doses of ACE in hemorrhagic shock.