Mucosal blood flow and modified vascular responses to norepinephrine in the stomach of rats with liver cirrhosis.

To observe changes in hemodynamics and vascular responses to norepinephrine in cases of liver cirrhosis, male WKA rats were given CCl4 subcutaneously. The portal venous pressure of these so-induced cirrhotic rats was significantly higher than that of the controls. There was an increase of mucosal blood flow and a lowering of peripheral vascular resistance of the stomach. After norepinephrine infusion, the gastric mucosal blood flow increased significantly in cirrhotic rats, whereas there was no significant change in controls. The aorta and the portal vein showed no difference in the vascular response to either norepinephrine or [K+].0. These results suggest that in cirrhotic rats there is an increase in blood flow and a lowering of peripheral vascular resistance in the gastric mucosa and that these hemodynamic changes may be derived from alteration in the vascular response to norepinephrine in gastric microcirculation.