Halothane, but not isoflurane or enflurane, protects against spontaneous and epinephrine-exacerbated acute thrombus formation in stenosed dog coronary arteries.

Occlusive platelet thrombi periodically form in mechanically stenosed dog coronary arteries producing cyclical blood flow reductions occurring over 4-7 min. Cyclical coronary flow reductions are exacerbated by IV epinephrine 0.4 microgram.kg-1.min-1 for 15 min. These flow reductions can be abolished by known inhibitors of platelet function. This study assesses the effect of halothane, isoflurane, and enflurane on spontaneous- and epinephrine-exacerbated cyclical coronary flow reductions. Twenty-three open-chest dogs [1% halothane (n = 5), 0.5% halothane (n = 5), 0.25% halothane (n = 3), 1.5% isoflurane (n = 5), and 2.0% enflurane (n = 5)] with a mechanically stenosed coronary artery showed cyclical blood flow reductions. With 1.0% halothane administration, spontaneous cyclical blood flow reductions were abolished (n = 5), whereas during administration of isoflurane 1.5% (n = 5) and enflurane 2.0% (n = 5) cyclical flow reductions and myocardial ischemia continued. Subsequent administration of halothane in the isoflurane and enflurane groups showed abolition of coronary flow reductions in all animals (n = 10). In eight animals a 15-min epinephrine infusion (0.4 microgram.kg-1.min-1) was given following a control period and again following abolition of coronary flow reductions by halothane 0.5% (n = 5) and halothane 0.25% (n = 3). The magnitude of cyclical blood flow reductions (difference between initial and final coronary flow level of each flow reduction) changed from 52 +/- 11 to 61 +/- 12 ml/min (NS), and frequency increased from 0.37 to 0.57/min (P less than 0.05, n = 8) during epinephrine infusion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)