Antiadrenergic and Antihistaminic Therapy in Hemorrhagic Shock in Dog and Rat

¹ From the Kirstein Laboratory for Surgical Research, Beth Israel Hospital and the Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

The influence of pretreatment with dibenamine on the development and course of hemorrhagic shock, and the effect of treatment with dibenamine, rapidly acting antiadrenergic drugs, or antihistaminic drugs after hemorrhagic shock had been allowed to become unresponsive to replacement transfusion, were tested in dogs prepared in advance to permit measurement of portal-caval venous pressure gradient. Preliminary dibenamine administration was also tested in rats submitted to hemorrhagic shock. The conclusions were as follows: 1) The protective effect of dibenamine prior to the induction of hemorrhagic shock in the dog consists mainly of a reduction of the bleeding volume. Intrahepatic vasoconstriction is not reduced. A dog which is not under the influence of dibenamine can tolerate a greater degree of blood loss than a dibenaminized dog. After hemorrhagic shock has been allowed to become refractory to replacement transfusion, antiadrenergic and antihistaminic drugs do not reduce intrahepatic vasoconstriction or increase the survival period or the survival rate. 2) Dibenamine given prior to hemorrhage enables the rat to survive a degree of blood loss which is lethal to the untreated rat. This, in part, appears to be due to better blood flow to the respiratory center.

Note:
with the technical assistance of Thomas Barnett and Howard Chauncey