Neither nitroglycerin nor nitroprusside selectively reduces sepsis-induced pulmonary hypertension in piglets

• Published in: Critical care medicine Vol. 15; no. 12; p. 1127
• Main Authors: Rudinsky, B F, Komar, K J, Strates, E, Meadow, W L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-12-1987
• Subjects: Animals; Aorta - drug effects; Aorta - physiopathology; Blood Pressure - drug effects; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Ferricyanides - therapeutic use; Humans; Hypertension, Pulmonary - drug therapy; Hypertension, Pulmonary - etiology; Hypertension, Pulmonary - physiopathology; Infant, Newborn; Nitroglycerin - therapeutic use; Nitroprusside - therapeutic use; Persistent Fetal Circulation Syndrome - drug therapy; Pulmonary Artery - drug effects; Pulmonary Artery - physiopathology; Streptococcal Infections - complications; Streptococcus agalactiae; Swine; Swine Diseases - drug therapy; Swine Diseases - etiology; Swine Diseases - physiopathology
• ISSN: 0090-3493
• DOI: 10.1097/00003246-198712000-00010

No therapeutic agent consistently decreases pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) more than aortic pressure in neonates with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. We have investigated whether nitroglycerin (NG) or nitroprusside (NP) selectively decreases PAP in an animal model of sepsis-induced pulmonary hypertension. Piglets were anesthetized, intubated, and ventilated. Pulmonary hypertension was induced by an iv infusion of group B Streptococci. Piglets were then divided into three groups with group B Streptococci infusion ongoing. Neither PAP nor the pulmonary vascular resistance index was decreased significantly by either NP or NG. NP decreased significantly both mean aortic pressure and the systemic vascular resistance index. Cardiac index decreased significantly during both NG and placebo infusion. These data suggest that neither NP nor NG is likely to be beneficial in sepsis-induced pulmonary hypertension in newborns.