INCREASED ALDOSTERONE SECRETION IN DOGS WITH RIGHT-SIDED CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE AND IN DOGS WITH THORACIC INFERIOR VENA CAVA CONSTRICTION

Abstract

Three hundred cubic centimeters of venous blood were collected from the right adrenal gland in 6 normal dogs, 4 dogs with right-sided congestive heart failure secondary to pulmonary artery constriction and 3 dogs with thoracic inferior vena cava (IVC) constriction. The dogs weighed 15-23 kg and had been fed a synthetic diet containing 60 meq of Na/day. The blood was extracted with acetone and fractionated by paper and column partition chromatography. In each instance the aldosterone fraction was assayed for Na-retrining and K-excreting activity by intravenous injection into bilaterally adrenalectomized dogs maintained on a high Na diet. The content of aldosterone was calculated from a dose-response curve. Initial studies using pentobarbital anesthesia yielded values of 6.0 MgAour in 1 dog with thoracic IVC constriction and 4.0 [mu]g/hour in 1 dog with cardiac failure. No aldosterone was detected in bloods collected from 3 normal dogs. In more recent studies, xylocaine local anesthesia was used and 300 cc of normal blood were transfused during the collection. Values obtained were 0,3.4 and 4.8 [mu]g/hour in 3 normal dogs; 6.9 and 16.3 [mu]/hour in 2 dogs with thoracic IVC constriction, and 4.7, 20.0 and 24.5 [mu]g/hour in 3 dogs with cardiac failure. Three hundred cubic centimeters of peripheral blood from 1 of the dogs with thoracic IVC constriction and from 1 of the dogs with cardiac failure were similarly studied and showed no detectable aldosterone.