Norepinephrine is a more potent inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor over a range of doses than dopamine.

In the current study, we test the hypothesis that norepinephrine has greater anti-inflammatory effects versus dopamine over a range of doses in a model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cytokine release in human saphenous vein. Segments of saphenous vein were cut and separated into 1 mm x 1 mm squares and placed into two 24-well plates. These small segments of vessels were incubated in the presence of 20 microg/mL bacterial LPS, alone as a control or with 10x-6, 10x-5, 10x-4, 10x-3 concentration of dopamine or norepinephrine and LPS. The general linear models (GLM) statistical analysis for least squares means and adjustment for multiple comparisons was chosen to analyze the data. Both norepinephrine and dopamine were able to suppress the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in a dose-dependent fashion. Over the range of doses, norepinephrine is a more potent inhibitor of TNF production than dopamine. This is a statistically significant linear trend (P < .0001). Both norepinephrine and dopamine are powerful anti-inflammatory agents. Norepinephrine is a more potent inhibitor of TNF than dopamine.