The pancreas and oxygen consumption (Part 2)

Summary

In order to evaluate the effect of methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) on the alteration of pancreatic oxygen consumption (VO2) in hypovolemic shock, MPSS was administered to four normal canines and three hypovolemic animals. All were treated according to the protocol used in the initial report. (The Pancreas and Oxygen Consumption 1: Pancreatic Oxygen Consumption in Normo- and Hypovolemic Dogs.) All seven underwent a splenectomy at the beginning of the experiment. Pancreatic VO₂, obtained by adding up VO₂ for the head (minus the uncinate process) and tail of the pancreas, was equal to the product of regional blood flow,Q, determined electromagnetically on the gastroduodenal (GDA) and splenic (SA) arteries, times O₂ extraction, (a-v)O₂; O₂ content (in mL%) was measured in the femoral artery (RFA), in the splenic (SV) and superior pancreaticoduodenal (SPDV) veins. Similar determinations were carried out on the right hind limb that served as a control.

Recordings were made for 4 h in both groups, the first hour determinations (five in all) serving as reference values. Methylprednisolone did not appear to alter pancreatic VO₂, which showed a significant increasing trend from + 77% 1 h after MPSS had been given, to + 98% 3 h later (vs + 56 and +92%, respectively, in the control group). As in the control group, these increases were owing to augmented O₂ extraction by the pancreas. No significant change was noted between the head and tail of the pancreas. In the hind limb, VO₂ increased significantly the first 2 h and differed from control VO₂ at the end of the first hour only.