Changes in vasopressin concentration in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid in response to hemorrhage in anesthetized dogs.

In the anesthetized dog, the concentrations of vasopressin (ADH) in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were similar under basal conditions, and there was a highly significant positive correlation between them (r = 0.71, p less than 0.01). Although hemorrhage was capable of increasing the ADH concentration in both plasma and CSF, the threshold for the increase in plasma ADH was much lower than for the increase in the concentration of ADH in CSF. In addition, the magnitude of the increase in the concentration of ADH in plasma was considerably greater than that in CSF at a comparable degree of hemorrhage. Our results suggest that ADH released into CSF during hemorrhage may have a different origin from that released into blood.