Esmolol hydrochloride, sodium nitroprusside, and isoflurane differ in their ability to alter peripheral sympathetic responses

To demonstrate that esmolol, sodium nitroprusside, and isoflurane differ in their abilities to alter adrenal medullary blood flow and other peripheral sympathetic responses to hypotension, 16 mongrel dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital were allocated randomly to one of four test groups and given two hypotensive stimuli, separated by 1 h, to a mean arterial blood pressure of 60 mm Hg for 10 min. The first stimulus, induced by blood loss into a pressurized bottle system, constituted the control for each animal. The second hypotensive stimulus was created by either repeat blood loss (Group 1), esmolol infusion (Group 2), sodium nitroprusside infusion (Group 3), or isoflurane administration (Group 4). Before and 10 min into hypotension, the variables of abdominal organ blood flow, adrenal medullary blood flow, arterial norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations were measured. In the control animals (Group 1), comparable decreases in abdominal organ blood flow and similar increases in adrenal medullary blood flow, norepinephrine, and epinephrine were elicited by the first and second hypotensive stimulus. Esmolol-induced hypotension (Group 2) abolished the increase in adrenal medullary blood flow and attenuated the increase in epinephrine by 65% (P < 0.03). The decrease in abdominal organ blood flow and the increase in norepinephrine were similar to that observed during baseline hemorrhagic hypotension. In contrast, sodium nitroprusside-induced hypotension (Group 3) abolished abdominal organ vasoconstriction whereas the increases in adrenal medullary blood flow, norepinephrine, and epinephrine were comparable to baseline hemorrhagic hypotension. In fact, abdominal organ blood flow increased 2.5-fold (P < 0.001) during hypotension with SNP. Isoflurane 2%, 1.54 minimum alveolar anesthesia concentration (Group 4), abolished the increases in adrenal medullary blood flow, norepinephrine, and epinephrine observed during baseline hemorrhagic hypotension and attenuated the decrease in abdominal organ blood flow by 70% (P < 0.001). These data demonstrate that esmolol, sodium nitroprusside, and isoflurane differ radically in their ability to alter or blunt peripheral sympathetic responses to hypotension, and suggest that isoflurane is the drug most effective in blunting multiple responses of the peripheral sympathetic system.