Effects of ether anesthesia on myocardial metabolism in dogs

¹ Division of Anesthesia, Department of Surgery, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Following the insertion of polyvinyl catheters into the aorta, pulmonary artery, and coronary sinus of dogs, metabolic studies of the heart were performed on intact, fasting animals. During ether anesthesia there was an increase in the arterial concentrations of glucose, lactate, and pyruvate, but a decrease in the concentration of unesterified fatty acids (UFA). Myocardial extraction of lactate, pyruvate, and UFA was a linear function of their arterial concentrations, but the extraction of glucose varied considerably. A rise in the myocardial RQ was associated with the increased extraction of carbohydrates. The decrease in the arterial concentration and myocardial extraction of UFA was thought to result from the greater availability of carbohydrate substrates. Ether anesthesia produced alterations in the pattern of myocardial metabolism, but did not seem to impair the over-all extraction of carbohydrates or UFA.