Vascular effects of endothelin-1 in stage 21 chick embryos.

Endothelin-1 is a very potent vasoconstrictor, but its function has not yet been investigated in the early stage of cardiovascular development. The purpose of the present study was to clarify whether endothelin-1 exerts a hemodynamic effect in stage 21 chick embryos. We measured vitelline artery blood pressure with a servo-null micropressure system and blood flow velocity at the dorsal aorta with a 20 MHz pulsed Doppler velocity meter. The vitelline vessels were directly measured with a microscope video system. While monitoring these parameters, endothelin-1 was infused into a vein by a microinjector and data were collected. Endothelin-1 increased the blood pressure and heart rate, but decreased the dorsal aortic blood flow. Only the vitelline veins with a diameter of between 100 and 200 microm constricted after endothelin infusion, but smaller or larger veins and the arteries did not show any significant change in size, although the resistant arteries could not be measured by this method. In conclusion, endothelin-1 has apparent constrictive effects in the selected vessel in the early stages of cardiovascular development when the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems have not yet developed.

Hemodynamics and ventricular function in the day-12 rat embryo: basic characteristics and the responses to cardiovascular drugs.

We investigated the basic characteristics of the rat embryonic circulation and also looked at the hemodynamic effects of alpha- and beta-agonists, digitalis, and atrial natriuretic peptide, using a modified organ culture system in which the embryo was placed in oxygenated Hanks' balanced salt solution, blood pressure was measured by a servo-null micropressure system, and blood flow pattern was obtained by a 20-MHz pulsed Doppler velocity meter. The peak pressure was 0.5 +/- 0.04 (SEM) mm Hg at the atrium (n = 6), 2.3 +/- 0.10 mm Hg at the ventricle (n = 15), 1.6 +/- 0.03 mm Hg at the truncus (n = 7), and 1.0 +/- 0.05 mm Hg at the umbilical artery (n = 21). There was a pressure drop from the ventricle to the truncus and then a smaller pressure decrease to the umbilical artery. The atrial a-wave was 20% of ventricular pressure and ventricular inflow blood flow pattern showed very low early-to-late filling ratio, indicating that the ventricle was stiff. These findings were essentially the same as in the chick embryo. We recorded the ventricular image by using a high-speed video system with a frame rate of 200/s, and the ventricular pressure-area loop showed a triangular shape with short isovolumetric phases, which was different from that of the chick embryo at a similar stage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effects of environmental hyperthermia on cardiovascular function in the rat embryo.

Effects of hyperthermia on the cardiovascular function of the mammalian embryo have not been well defined. The effect of hyperthermia on the blood flow and umbilical artery blood pressure was studied in rat embryos at gestational d 12 by using a method developed in our laboratory. When the temperature was changed from 37 to 42 degrees C, the heart rate increased by 15% (n = 33). Mean umbilical artery blood pressure, measured by a servo-null micropressure system, decreased from 0.64 +/- 0.05 to 0.53 +/- 0.04 mm Hg (n = 11), whereas blood flow velocity at the conotruncus, a measure of cardiac output, obtained by a 20-MHz pulsed Doppler ultrasound flowmeter, increased by 36 +/- 11% (n = 11). Mean umbilical artery blood flow increased by 66 +/- 13% (n = 11) and its vascular resistance, calculated by ratio analysis, decreased from 3.7 (median) to 1.8 units. These changes returned to baseline values when the temperature was returned to 37 degrees C. The change in blood pressure was different from that seen in the chick embryo, indicating that there is species difference in the hemodynamic effect.

Effect of atrial natriuretic peptide on hemodynamics of the stage 21 chick embryo.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is important in the modulation of hemodynamics and fluid balance in the mature subject, but its hemodynamic effects at early stages of morphogenesis are not defined. We studied the effect of rat atriopeptin III on hemodynamics in chick embryos at Hamburger-Hamilton stage 21. The cardiovascular system is not yet innervated, nor is the kidney formed in these embryos. The vitelline arterial and venous blood pressures were measured with a servo-null, micro-pressure system and the dorsal aortic blood flow was measured with a 20 MHz pulsed Doppler velocity meter. The peptide was infused into the vitelline vein with a microinjector at doses of 0.1, 1.0, and 10 ng. Doses normalized by body wt of embryos averaged 0.003, 0.035, and 0.32 ng/mg (n = 61), respectively. Vitelline arterial blood pressure decreased in a dose dependent manner [y = 55.8 - 9.9x; r = -0.49; p less than 0.01 (y = % of baseline, x = log ng/mg)], and dorsal aortic blood flow, a measure of cardiac output, decreased similarly (y = 39.6 - 16.2x; r = -0.47; p less than 0.01). Heart rate did not change. Ten ng of ANP increased the vitelline venous diameter, determined directly under a microscope, from 125 +/- 47 (SD) microns to 139 +/- 49 microns (n = 11; p less than 0.01), and decreased vitelline venous pressure from 0.34 +/- 0.05 mm Hg to 0.10 +/- 0.07 mm Hg (n = 5). We conclude that ANP exerts its hemodynamic effect by direct venodilation in the noninnervated and anephric circulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)