The abdominal cavity of male albino rats, average weight 250 g, was opened and the duodenum approached where the ductus choledochus joins. Pancreatic ducts empty into the lower third of the choledochus. The ductus choledochus was cannulated with a Teflon catheter beneath the liver and its other end was brought out at the neck of the rat. Tissue glue was introduced into the lower part of the choledochus towards the liver. Another Teflon catheter was introduced into the duodenum, its second end brought out at the neck and connected with the first catheter by means of a metal tube, thus preserving bile flow from the liver to the duodenum. Tissue glue injection resulted in complete atrophy of the exocrine pancreas within 2–15 days. The islets of Langerhans remained intact.

Summary The participation of the heart in shock syndrome formation during endotoxin shock is a problem still awaiting solution. The task undertaken is to assess the work of the left ventricle and arterial pressure in rabbits before and after endotoxin injection at a dose of 2 mg kg-1. Heart rate is the first to reach significantly lower values-at 30 min (p <0.05). At 45 min, there are significant reductions in dP/dtmax (p <0.01), (dp/dt)/P40 (p <0.001), LVP (p <0,05), and increase in dP/dtrieg (p <0.02). Both the systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly decreased at 60 min. The data obtained warrant the assumption that impaired myocardial contractility plays a part in the formation of shock syndrome in rabbits exposed to endotoxin.Key words : ventricular contractility, endotoxin shock.The vascular insufficiency is a major pathogenetic factor of endotoxin shock. The participation of the heart in shock syndrome formation is a problem that is still not clarified (HINSHAw,1985). GILBERT (1960) and subsequently HINSHAW et al. (1972) were successful in demonstrating that the myocardium is affected in late stages of endotoxin shock. Data has been submitted pointing to a much earlier impairment of the myocardial function in Gram-negative shock in humans (CERRA et al., 1978;Woo et al., 1979), and in endotoxin shock in animals (SoLIS and DOWNING, 1966;PARKER and ADAMS, 1985), than previously supposed (ADAMS et al., 1984).The purpose of the present study is to evaluate and compare the changes in contractility of the left ventricle and arterial pressure in endotoxin-treated rabbits.

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In four-month-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) the effect of a calcium blocking agent verapamil on blood pressure, ventricular contractility indices, parathyroid hormone (PTH), plasma renin activity (PRA), plasma and adrenal corticosterone content and catecholamines in hypothalamus, myocardium and adrenal gland was evaluated. Calcium and phosphorus in plasma were also determined. Verapamil treatment resulted in a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a reduction in maximum left ventricular pressure. Verapamil exerted a negative inotropic effect, evaluated by a decrease in dP/dt max and dP/dt neg. PRA was elevated, calcium tended to decrease, and no changes in PTH and phosphorus were found. The hypotensive effect of verapamil in SHR was accompanied by a decrease in plasma and adrenal corticosterone content, and a fall in catecholamine concentration in adrenal glands and myocardium.

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