Carotid sinus reflex vasoconstriction in right coronary circulation of dog and pig

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of the sympathetic nervous system on right ventricular and right coronary hemodynamics in the anesthetized vagotomized dog and pig during constant-pressure coronary perfusion. Carotid occlusion in the dog resulted in an increase in heart rate, aortic pressure, right ventricular dP/dt, and a sustained 13% decrease in right coronary artery blood flow and a 14% increase in coronary vascular resistance. This coronary vasoconstriction was not modified during beta-blockade with propranolol but was prevented by alpha- blockade with phentolamine. Similar hemodynamic data was obtained in the pig and, in addition, it was found that the O2 consumption of the right ventricle is low (4.8 +/- 0.4 ml O2.min-1.100 g-1) and is only slightly increased (5.l5 +/- 0.8 ml.min-1.100 g-1) during carotid occlusion. These data suggest that baroreflex-mediated sympathetic stimulation to the heart evokes only a minor increase in metabolic activity in the right ventricular myocardium so that the direct neural (alpha-vasoconstrictor) effect predominates over the metabolic vasodilator mechanism.