Pharmacological doses of atrial natriuretic factor do not inhibit canine hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction

It has been recently suggested that atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) might be involved in the physiological regulation of pulmonary circulation. Therefore, we investigated the pulmonary hemodynamic response to 20-min infusions of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 micrograms kg-1 min-1 of alpha human ANF in five dogs alternatively ventilated with hyperoxic (FIO2 0.4) and hypoxic (FIO2 0.1) gas mixtures. Cardiac output was held constant by the inflation of a balloon in the inferior vena cava or by opening of an arteriovenous femoral fistula, in order to discriminate between active and passive changes in pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa). Hypoxia increased Ppa from 14 +/- 3 to 24 +/- 3 mm Hg (mean +/- SE, p less than 001). Circulating ANF and guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) were increased to 1,326 +/- 299 pmol L-1 (normal is less than 10 pmol L-1) and 75.5 +/- 5.8 pmol ml-1 (normal is less than 15 pmol ml-1) respectively, at the highest infused dose. After ANF infusion, heart rate (HR), Ppa, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (Ppw), and right atrial pressure (Pra) did not change either in hyperoxia or hypoxia. Systemic arterial pressure (Psa) decreased after ANF, but only in hypoxia. Thus, ANF at pharmacological doses associated with a 100-150-fold increase in plasma levels proved to be a poor vasodilator and, in particular, did not inhibit hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV). These results do not support the speculation that ANF might be an endogenous vasodilating modulator of pulmonary vascular tone in the dog.