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Acetylcholine's effect on the distribution of vascular resistance and compliance in the canine pulmonary circulation was determined under control and elevated vascular tone by the arterial, venous, and double occlusion techniques in isolated blood-perfused dog lungs at both constant flow and constant pressure. Large and small blood vessel resistances and compliances were studied in lungs given concentrations of acetylcholine ranging from 2.0 ng/ml to 200 micrograms/ml. The results of this study indicate that acetylcholine dilates large arteries at low concentrations (less than or equal to 20 ng/ml) and constricts small and large veins at concentrations of at least 2 micrograms/ml. Characterization of acetylcholine's effects at constant pulmonary blood flow indicates that 1) large artery vasodilation may be endothelial-derived relaxing factor-mediated because the dilation is blocked with methylene blue; 2) a vasodilator of the arachidonic acid cascade (blocked by ibuprofen), probably prostacyclin, lessens acetylcholine's pressor effects; 3) when vascular tone was increased, acetylcholine's hemodynamic effects were attenuated; and 4) acetylcholine decreased middle compartment and large vessle compliance under control but not elevated vascular tone. Under constant pressure at control vascular tone acetylcholine increases resistance in all segments except the large artery, and at elevated vascular tone the pressor effects were enhanced, and large artery resistance was increased.

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Lymphatic clearances of total protein, albumin, immunoglobulin (Ig) G, and IgM obtained in autoperfused cat ileum as venous pressure (Pv) was elevated were analyzed using traditional methods as well as the newer maximal diffusion (max,diff) method of Reed et al. [Am. J. Physiol. 261 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 30): H728-H740, 1991; Am. J. Physiol. 257 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 26): H1037-H1041, 1989] to determine capillary osmotic reflection coefficients (sigma d) and unique permeability surface area products (PS). In a control group (n = 6), sigma d max,diff and PSmax,diff for albumin, IgG, and IgM could not be determined due to their transiently high clearance patterns. These patterns were not altered by treatment with vasodilators (n = 6) to prevent redistribution of blood flow from the mucosal-submucosal to muscularis layer of the ileum, which accompanies elevation of ileal Pv. Furthermore, sigma d values for IgG in both groups were lower than those for both albumin and IgM, a finding inconsistent with predictions based on pore theory, together suggesting that lymphatic protein clearances were influenced by washout of interstitial proteins, a conclusion supported by the decrease in tissue content of albumin and IgG after elevation of Pv. Clearances of radiolabeled albumin (n = 10) and IgG (n = 6), measured after an initial 2-h steady-state period at a constant Pv, were markedly reduced at low lymph flow compared with those obtained in the shorter term experiments. In an additional group (n = 5), albumin clearance peaked at 10 times baseline within 15 min after a step increase in Pv to 30 mmHg but fell to only 3 times baseline within 1 h.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)