Changes in regional coronary blood flow with hypertonic mannitol in conscious dogs

Systemic haemodynamics and regional myocardial blood flow responses to hypertonic mannitol were studied in 10 conscious and 23 anaesthetized dogs. Mannitol infusion significantly increased regional myocardial blood flow in the conscious, intact dogs. Mannitol increased total coronary flow 20% in anasethetized animals compared to 80% in the awake ones. In both groups mannitol exerted a significant positive inotropic effect as evidenced by increases in maximal LV dp/dt and dp/dt/p. These studies have also demonstrated that the intact conscious dog that has not received any sedation has an inner:outer wall left ventricular flow ratio greater than 1-0.