Interindividual variation in kinetics of infused epinephrine.

1-Norepinephrine was infused continuously for 10 hr into 5 normotensive, male laboratory subjects (mean age, 32.4 +/- 1.9 yr) at a mean rate of 0.06 microgram/kg/min. Mean plasma norepinephrine (NE) rose from the preinfusion level of 0.19 +/- 0.02 microgram/l to a steady state level of 1.22 +/- 0.29 microgram/l. The mean increase in blood pressure was 21.8 +/- 0.9 mm Hg systolic and 14.1 +/- 1.0 mm Hg diastolic. The mean depression in heart rate was 12.7 +/- 1.7 beats/min. The clearance of norepinephrine ranged from 27.9 to 100.0 ml/kg/min (mean. 58.0 +/- 13.8) and was little influenced by acute hemodynamic changes. The volume of distribution ranged widely (0.09 to 0.40 l/kg), the mean value being 13.51 1. The mean norepinephrine half-life was brief, ranging from 1.45 to 2.9 min (mean, 2.09 +/- 0.34 min). There was no evidence of a slowly accumulating high-capacity low-affinity pool of norepinephrine. These results support the use of plasma norepinephrine as an index of sympathetic activity within an individual but not its validity in interindividual comparisons.