Dexmedetomidine decreases the oral mucosal blood flow

There is an abundance of blood vessels in the oral cavity, and intraoperative bleeding can disrupt operations. There have been some interesting reports about constriction of vessels in the oral cavity, one of which reported that gingival blood flow in cats is controlled by sympathetic α-adrenergic fibres that are involved with vasoconstriction. Dexmedetomidine is a sedative and analgesic agent that acts through the α-2 adrenoceptor, and is expected to have a vasoconstrictive action in the oral cavity. We have focused on the relation between the effects of α-adrenoceptors by dexmedetomidine and vasoconstriction in oral tissues, and assessed the oral mucosal blood flow during sedation with dexmedetomidine. The subjects comprised 13 healthy male volunteers, sedated with dexmedetomidine in a loading dose of 6 μg/kg/h for 10 min and a continuous infusion of 0.7 μg/kg/h for 32 min. The mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), and palatal mucosal blood flow (PMBF) were measured at 0, 5, 10, 12, 22, and 32 min after the start of the infusion. The HR, CO, and PBMF decreased significantly during the infusion even though there were no differences in the SV. The SVR increased significantly but the PMBF decreased significantly. In conclusion, PMBF was reduced by the mediating effect of dexmedetomidine on α-2 adrenoceptors.