Pulmonary Vascular Responses of Newborn Goats to Aerosolized Prostaglandin E 1 1

Summary

Effects of aerosolized prosta-glandin E₁ (PGE₁) on pulmonary vascular resistance, systemic arterial pressure, and heart rate of anesthetized newborn goats were evaluated in situ during normoxia and hypoxia by means of an open-chest, pump-perfused lung preparation. Pulmonary vascular resistance, systemic arterial pressure, and heart rate were reduced during 10-min administration of PGE₁ aerosols. PGE₁ aerosols produced small effects on pulmonary vascular resistance and pronounced effects on systemic arterial pressure. The effect of PGE₁ on systemic arterial pressure was not different whether administered as an aerosol or infused directly into the left ventricle. PGE₁ infused into left pulmonary arterial blood has a greater effect on pulmonary vascular resistance and less effect on systemic arterial pressure than PGE₁ administered as an aerosol.

We acknowledge the excellent technical assistance of N. L. Murtha, L. Tumarkin, J. Howard, and P. Eitzman. The aid of D. Dessautels in selecting a nebulizer is greatly appreciated. We would like also to thank Drs. A. Otis and M. Jaeger for critically reading the manuscript.