Circulation parameters during intravenous and intra-arterial administration of increasing doses of prostaglandin E1 in healthy subjects.

Increasing doses of prostaglandin E1 given intravenously do not influence the hemodynamic parameters up to a dosage of 1500 ng/min. Intra-arterial administration of a mixture of nucleotides and nucleosides in therapeutic doses induces an increase in the blood flow volume at rest of up to 400%. With dosages of 20 ng/min and more, intra-arterial administration of PGE1 induces only a slight increase in the blood flow volume of the extremity under treatment. The therapeutic effects of the substance, therefore, are probably more due to other mechanisms of action than to hemodynamic effects.