Abstract

To study the effects of an inotropic agent, milrinone, on the entire cardiovascular system, we developed an intact dog model to assess the responses of the heart, arterial and venous circulations. At a dose that increased left ventricular dP/dt by 30% (P less than .001) from 2033 +/- 133 to 2688 +/- 140 mm Hg/sec, milrinone caused a decrease (P less than .001) in mean aortic pressure from 88.4 +/- 3.5 to 73.1 +/- 3.0 mm Hg and cardiac output from 148.0 +/- 14.6 to 134.5 +/- 13.9 ml/kg/min. Heart rate increased (P less than .01) from 124 +/- 8 to 135 +/- 8 beats/min. Systemic vascular resistance did not change. Right atrial pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure decreased (P less than .01). Total blood volume did not change but central blood volume decreased (P less than .01) from 26.1 +/- 0.9 to 22.3 +/- 0.5 ml/kg. After milrinone administration, mean circulatory filling pressure decreased (P less than .01) by 30% from 7.4 +/- 0.4 to 5.0 +/- 0.2 mm Hg. Vascular or venous compliance increased (P less than .05) slightly from 1.96 +/- 0.4 to 2.20 +/- 0.1 ml/mm Hg/kg. This was accompanied by an increase (P less than .01) in unstressed vascular blood volume of 3.3 +/- 0.6 ml/kg. Arterial compliance also increased (P less than .05). In summary, milrinone produces an increase in inotropy, arterial vasodilatation and venodilatation as evidenced by the increased venous compliance and unstressed vascular volume.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)