Whole body vascular capacitance response to vasopressin is mediated by autonomic function

Effects of intravenous infusions of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on whole body vascular capacitance were determined in anesthetized cats when autonomic nervous system function was intact and, in other cats, when reflexes were blocked by the ganglionic blocking agent pentolinium. With the use of the constant cardiac output-reservoir technique, changes in reservoir volume were assumed to reflect reciprocal changes in whole body vascular capacitance. Relationships between the dose of AVP and the plasma concentration of the peptide achieved during infusions were not significantly different in the two groups of animals. Blood pressure responses to AVP were greater, whereas heart rate responses to the peptide were abolished in ganglion-blocked cats. In cats with intact autonomic function, reservoir volume decreased by 1.6, 4.2, and 7.8 ml/kg at AVP doses of 1, 10, and 100 ng.kg-1.min-1, respectively. In contrast, in ganglion-blocked cats, reservoir volume did not change significantly at 1.0 and 10 ng.kg-1.min-1 of AVP, and the highest dose caused a much smaller change in volume (3 ml/kg) than that observed in cats with intact autonomic function (7.8 ml/kg). Systemic compliance was unchanged by AVP in both groups of animals, suggesting that the increases in whole body vascular capacitance were likely due to changes in unstressed volume. The results suggest that reflexively mediated changes in autonomic function increase whole body vascular capacitance during elevations in the circulating levels of AVP to plasma concentrations that are biologically relevant. These findings may explain how AVP decreases cardiac output in animals with an intact autonomic nervous system.