Myocardial blood flow during induced aortic hypertension in dogs

Myocardial blood flow was measured in anesthetized dogs during control conditions and under conditions where the aortic pressure was increased due to aortic constriction or during infusion. Blood flow was measured using the radioactive microsphere technique. Radioactive microspheres (15 m Ce-141, Sr-85, and Sc-46) were injected under control, aortic constriction and arterenol infusion in four dogs and under control conditions in two others. All microsphere injections were performed under stabilized conditions. It was found that coronary blood flow rose by 80% during aortic constriction and by 158% during arterenol infusion (P < 0.05). This increase in blood flow was not uniform throughout the heart, and higher increases were observed in the middle and apex regions of the left ventricle. Furthermore, under hypertension the increase in blood flow in LAD (left anterior descending) perfused territories was slightly higher than that in CFX (left circumflex) perfused territories