Hypertonic saline resuscitates dogs in endotoxin shock.

In this experiment we determined if infusions of hypertonic saline (HS, 1080 Na meq/liter) could resuscitate dogs in endotoxin shock as effectively as Ringer's lactate (RL, 130 Na meq/liter). Anesthetized dogs received iv 0.5 mg/kg of Escherichia coli endotoxin, and mean arterial pressure (MAP, mm Hg) decreased from 148 +/- 5 to 58 +/- 14 within 30 min. To resuscitate the dogs 13 meq/kg of sodium was intravenously infused over 90 min as either a 10% body weight load of RL (n = 5) or a 1.2% body weight load of HS (n = 5). Both solutions produced an equivalent hemodynamic resuscitation 3 to 4 hr postinfusion with an increase in MAP (RL, 119 +/- 4; HS, 108 +/- 7), the restoration of cardiac outputs to baseline (RL, 2.0 +/- 0.2; HS, 1.9 +/- 0.3 liter/min), and similar renal inulin clearances (RL, 48 +/- 16; HS, 44 +/- 7 ml/min). The net fluid gain (resuscitation fluid volume infused minus urine output as percentage of body weight) was much greater in the RL group (7.2 +/- 1.0%) than in the HS group (0.48 +/- 0.2%). Plasma volume (PV, percentage of body weight) was measured with Evans blue dye in these splenectomized dogs. The increase in PV in the RL dogs (1.25 +/- 0.04%) was slightly greater than the increase in the HS group (0.94 +/- 0.13). Prenodal skin lymph was collected from both hindpaws, and the fractional increase in skin lymph flow after RL (4.5 +/- 2.9) was greater than the increase in the HS group (1.7 +/- 0.3).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)