Response of ileal segment weight to prolonged levarterenol infusion

¹ Department of Education and Research, Evanston Hospital Association, Evanston; and Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois

Weighed segments of dog ileum were infused for 10–100 min with levarterenol at rates of 0.1– 96 µg/min. Although the response was unpredictable, in 13 of 22 trials the ileal segment gained weight and, in 12 of these trials, there was a rise in the small vein pressure. This rise in small venous pressure was considered indicative of constriction of veins central to the small vein. This could have increased capillary hydrostatic pressure so as to cause the gain in interstitial fluid which was indicated by the weight increase.