The chronically instrumental ewe: a model for studying vascular reactivity to angiotensin II in pregnancy

Vascular refractoriness to the systemic pressor effects of angiotension II (AII) develops normally during human pregnancy. To ascertain if the ewe might provide a suitable animal model to study the mechanisms responsible for this response (unique to pregnancy) we studied this phenomenon in unanesthetized, chronically instrumented nonpregnant and pregnant sheep, 68-143 d gestation. In these studies dose-response curves were established for changes in both mean arterial pressure and uterine blood flow. The pressor response to continuous infusions of AII increases as a function of the dose of AII in both nonpregnant and pregnant animals (P less than 0.001), R = 0.943 and 0.879, respectively. However, the pregnant animals were refractory to the pressor effects of AII, requiring 0.016 microgram of AII/min per kg to elicit a 20 mm HG rise in mean arterial pressure, in contrast to 0.009 for nonpregnant animals. The slope and intercept for the regression lines are different at P less than 0.001. In pregnant animals the dose-response curve for uterine blood flow was also determined. Increases in uterine blood flow were observed at doses of AII less than 0.016 microgram/min per kg, while larger doses resulted in a progressively greater reduction in blood flow. It appears likely that the ewe may serve as an animal model suitable for the further study of the unique pregnancy-modified systemic and uteroplacental vascular responses elicited by AII.