Right ventricular coronary blood flow patterns during aortic pressure reduction in renal hypertensive dogs

We measured right ventricular coronary blood flow with radioactive microspheres during graded aortic pressure reduction in 13 normal dogs and in 13 renal hypertensive dogs with left ventricular hypertrophy. Under anaesthesia and controlled loading conditions, mean aortic pressure was lowered from control (128 mmHg in normal and 146 mmHg in hypertensive dogs) to approximately 100, 90 and 80 mmHg. In normal dogs, right ventricular blood flow was not affected by this pressure reduction, consistent with effective right ventricular autoregulation. In hypertensive dogs, however, right ventricular blood flow was maintained between a mean aortic pressure of 146 and 90 mmHg (range 75-79 ml min(-1) 100 g(-1] but fell by 18% to 63 ml min 100 g(-1) at a mean aortic pressure of 80 mmHg (P less than 0.005). We conclude that autoregulation of right ventricular blood flow was preserved in chronic hypertension but that, compared to normal dogs, the lower limit of autoregulation was reset to a higher pressure level. Moreover, the similarity of right ventricular-to-body weight ratios in the two groups implied that this change was a consequence of hypertension-induced structural changes in the coronary vasculature.