The concentration (10(-8)-10(-5) M)-dependent contractile response of norepinephrine was completely inhibited by cyclooxygenase inhibitors but not by a thromboxane synthetase inhibitor. The amount of prostaglandin F2 alpha was significantly increased in the presence of norepinephrine (10(-5) M). Norepinephrine increased the amount of prostaglandin D2, although not significantly. The norepinephr...

INTRODUCTION Norepinephrine, regularly used to increase systemic arterial blood pressure and thus improve cerebral perfusion following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), may activate platelets. This, in turn, could promote microthrombosis formation and induce additional brain damage. METHODS The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of norepinephrine on platelets isolated...

Endogenous norepinephrine was quantitatively measured in cochlear tissues of pigmented and nonpigmented animals by high-performance liquid chromatography and electrochemical detection. Epinephrine, dopamine and serotonin were not detected. The cochlear norepinephrine content of the pigmented animals was found to be more than double that present in corresponding albinos. Cochlear norepinephrine ...

BASED ON FINDINGS IN EXPERIMENTAL MODELS of obesity, the sympathetic nervous system has commonly been assumed to have a determining role in obesity development through its influence on the regulation of energy expenditure. An earlier hypothesis was that sympathetic nervous activity was low in obesity, which by reducing thermogenesis had led to the weight gain (2). More recent studies in human o...

In essential hypertension sympathetic nerve firing is commonly increased. A central nervous system origin has been presumed but not tested directly. To estimate cerebral norepinephrine release in essential hypertension, spillover of norepinephrine into the cerebrovascular circulation was measured by isotope dilution, with high internal jugular venous sampling. Norepinephrine was released into t...

BACKGROUND Orthostatic intolerance is a syndrome characterized by lightheadedness, fatigue, altered mentation, and syncope and associated with postural tachycardia and plasma norepinephrine concentrations that are disproportionately high in relation to sympathetic outflow. We tested the hypothesis that impaired functioning of the norepinephrine transporter contributes to the pathophysiologic me...

The failure of plasma norepinephrine to rise during upright posture is accepted as a diagnostic sign of autonomic nervous failure in patients with postural hypotension. Our clinical experience has been that this test is misleading, with an increase in plasma norepinephrine commonly occurring. To test whether this might result from absent reflex postural venous constriction lowering cardiac outp...

• The comparative effects of circulating norepinephrine and of stimulation of sympathetic nerves on veins, arteries and small vessels of the same vascular bed are of particular interest because norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter. Both similarities and differences between the effects of norepinephrine and nerve stimulation have been reported. Kelly and Visscher demonstrated that stimulation of...

INTRODUCTION Low blood pressure, inadequate tissue oxygen delivery and mitochondrial dysfunction have all been implicated in the development of sepsis-induced organ failure. This study evaluated the effect on liver mitochondrial function of using norepinephrine to increase blood pressure in experimental sepsis. METHODS Thirteen anaesthetized pigs received endotoxin (Escherichia coli lipopolys...

Norepinephrine-sensitive lipase activity was measured in rat epididymal fat pads by determining release either of free fatty acids or of glycerol. Stimulation of the lipase activity by norepinephrine in vitro could not be duplicated by injecting norepinephrine into the rats before sacrifice. A reliable method for assay of lipase deactivation rate was developed in which the tissue is incubated f...