Immediate effect of meglumine diatrizoate on the vascular endothelium. An electron-microscopic study

Immediate morphological alterations in the vascular endothelium were studied in the common iliac artery and muscle capillaries of the rat after perfusions ranging from 3 to 120 seconds. Isotonic meglumine diatrizoate and saline produced no perceptible changes. Hypertonic solutions produced cell shrinkage and deformation of the intercellular spaces of the iliac artery in all cases. Shrinkage of the endothelial cells was also accompanied by shrinkage of the neighbouring cells. Hypertonic solutions did not always produce alterations in the capillaries; the frequency of such alterations was greater with saline. It is suggested that meglumine diatrizoate causes circulatory disturbance which affects its distribution to the microvasculature.