Because of recent studies suggesting that vasodilators affect ventricular compliance, we studied the effect of sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin on the mechanical performance of 21 isolated cat papillary muscles. The muscles were stimulated isometrically at 36 beats/min. Sixteen of the muscles were made hypoxic (95% N2, 5% CO2) for 50 minutes and then reoxygenated. Sodium nitroprusside (10...

In two groups of patients undergoing induced hypotension with sodium nitroprusside or trimetaphan blood concentrations of lactate, pyruvate and standard bicarbonate did not differ significantly between the groups. In the nine patients who received trimetaphan there was a progressive, but statistically non-significant, decrease in mean lactate. Nitroprusside (15 patients) was associated with a s...

The effect of nitroprusside in limiting myocardial infarct was compared with that of pinacidil, a new antihypertensive agent with potent coronary vasodilator properties, in instrumented awake dogs subjected to 4 hr of left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion and 20 hr of reperfusion. Dogs were randomly assigned to receive intravenous normal saline, nitroprusside, or pinacidil beginnin...

The effect of nitroprusside in limiting myocardial infarct was compared with that of pinacidil, a new antihypertensive agent with potent coronary vasodilator properties, in instrumented awake dogs subjected to 4 hr of left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion and 20 hr of reperfusion. Dogs were randomly assigned to receive intravenous normal saline, nitroprusside, or pinacidil beginnin...

Conditions have been defined that enable the use of nitroprusside as a catalyst for the phenol-hypochiorite reaction when the latter is applied to measurement of nitrogen in Kjeldahl digests containing mercury. This is accomplished by lowering the concentration of mercury to a range where it remains effective in accelerating the destruction of organic matter during digestion but no longer react...

BACKGROUND Afterdrop, defined as the precipitous reduction in core temperature after cardiopulmonary bypass, results from redistribution of body heat to inadequately warmed peripheral tissues. The authors tested two methods of ameliorating afterdrop: (1) forced-air warming of peripheral tissues and (2) nitroprusside-induced vasodilation. METHODS Patients were cooled during cardiopulmonary byp...

Verapamil and sodium nitroprusside induce a dose dependent dilatation in the forearm arterial bed and preconstricted dorsal hand vein in man. Verapamil is about twenty times more effective in dilating arterioles than veins; sodium nitroprusside is about ten times more effective in veins than arterioles. These differences can be related to functional differences between the two types of vessel.

Nitric oxide and superoxide are free radicals that appear to contribute to the pathogenesis of a number of brain disorders, and cerebral endothelial cells are a potential target of these agents. Because of the capacity for these two agents to combine, it has been suggested that nitric oxide might either enhance or inhibit the toxic effects of superoxide. To establish the effect of the generatio...

The effect of nitroprusside on regional myocardial specific blood flow (RMBF) was evaluated in 25 patients with the xenon-133 washout technique. Six patients were normal (group 1), six patients had coronary artery disease without collateral vessels (group 2), and thirteen patients had coronary artery disease with collateral vessels (group 3). In group 1, RMBF was unchanged following nitroprussi...