Dobutamine infusion in conscious dogs with and without acute myocardial infarction. Effects on systemic hemodynamics, myocardial blood flow, and infarct size.

We infused dobutamine (20 microgram/kg per min) intravenously, once before and once after coronary artery occlusion, in 10 chronically instrumented dogs. Both infusions increased cardiac output and left ventricular dP/dt and dP/dt/P, but divergent effects on heart rate and aortic blood pressure were observed. Dobutamine decreased heart rate and increased mean aortic blood pressure before coronary artery occlusion, whereas after occlusion it increased heart rate while mean aortic blood pressure remained unchanged. A greater decrease in total peripheral vascular resistance occurred during dobutamine infusion after coronary artery occlusion than before. These differences may relate to withdrawal of enhanced sympathetic tone after coronary occlusion. Similar infusions of normal saline (n = 9) produced no systemic hemodynamic changes either before or after coronary artery occlusion. Myocardial blood flow increased to both non-ischemic and ischemic regions of the heart during dobutamine infusion, but the endocardial:epicardial blood flow ratio did not change significantly. In addition, infarct size, measured by nitroblue tetrazolium stain, was smaller in the dobutamine group (10 +/- 1 g) than in the normal saline group (15 +/- 2 g). Neither left ventricular weight nor risk zone differed between the two groups. These results indicate that dobutamine may be a useful inotropic agent during acute myocardial infarction.