AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Vol 234, Issue 1 80-H87, Copyright © 1978 by American Physiological Society
Restoration of hemorrhaged plasma volume by gastrointestinal fluid in the dog
W. L. Miller and H. E. Dale
Conscious, intact and splenectomized, male dogs were hemorrhaged 35 percent
of their blood volumes (23 +/- 3 and 25 +/- 4 ml/kg, respectively) from
carotid loop cannulas. Isotonic saline or glucose solutions were
administered by gastric tube in volumes equal to the blood volume
hemorrhaged. Plasma volume, mean arterial blood pressure, venous
hematocrit, plasma protein concentration, and interstitial fluid pressure
were monitored after hemorrhage and after fluid treatment. The magnitudes
of plasma volume restoration 8 h after hemorrhage in the nontreated dogs
averaged 56 +/- 9 percent of the hemorrhaged volume and did not differ
significantly between intact and splenectomized dogs. Plasma volumes,
however, were increased significantly by enterally administered fluids. The
maximum rates of plasma volume restoration occurred within the 1st h after
fluid treatment. Approximately 46 percent and 28 percent of the hemorrhaged
plasma volume was replaced by saline and glucose solutions, respectively,
during this period. Results support the hypothesis that fluid is absorbed
from the gastrointestinal tract following hemorrhage, and that enterally
administered fluids restore plasma volume at a rate and to an extent
exceeding that provided by net interstitial fluid exchange alone.
