EFFECT OF HYPOTENSION INDUCED BY SODIUM NITROCYANOFERRATE (III) ON THE RELEASE OF ARGININE-VASOPRESSIN IN THE UNANAESTHETIZED MONKEY

Abstract

*I.N.S.E.R.M., U. 176, Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie, Université de Bordeaux II, F. 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France and †I.N.S.E.R.M., U. 30, Hôpital des Enfants Malades, 149 rue de Sèvres, F. 75015 Paris, France (Received 17 March 1978) Haemorrhage is a potent stimulus for the liberation of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) in the unanaesthetized monkey (Arnauld, Czernichow, Fumoux & Vincent, 1977), but in contrast to results obtained with other species, the fall in arterial blood pressure seems to be a more important factor than the reduction in blood volume. However, hypotension induced by haemorrhage varies considerably from one experiment to another, irrespective of the amount of blood withdrawn. In order to control changes in arterial blood pressure more accurately and to study their effect on the release of AVP in the conscious monkey, it was decided to use infusions of sodium nitrocyanoferrate (III), a drug which is known to induce a sustained fall in arterial