Effect of Hemorrhage on Red Cell and Plasma Volume of Various Organs of the Dog

Abstract

Dogs were anesthetized with a morphine-pentobarbital combination. Red cell volumes were measured by radioactive Cr⁵¹ and plasma volumes with radioactive I¹³¹. The dogs were killed by bleeding and the organs were digested. Aliquot samples of the organs were counted. Twenty minutes after a hemorrhage averaging 46% of the initial blood volume, 7.0 cc/kg of fluid with a mean protein content of 3.2 gm/100 cc entered the circulation. There were 6.7 cc/kg of fluid lost from the organs with 67% of the total coming from the stomach, intestine and skin. After the hemorrhage 2.4 cc/kg of red cells were trapped according to the blood volume calculations, but the cells were not recovered from the organs. The control dogs had 14.1 cc/kg of residual (‘extra’) plasma and after hemorrhage 7.3 cc/kg from the blood volume calculations. Calculation of residual plasma from the organ data agreed well (control 13.8 cc/kg and after hemorrhage 6.1 cc/kg) with the blood volume calculations. Residual plasma remained essentially the same percentage of the blood volume in control and bled dogs.