Dependence of cardiac filling pressure on cardiac output during rest and dynamic exercise in dogs.

At rest, central venous pressure (CVP) falls when cardiac output (CO) rises. This can be attributed to flow-dependent redistribution of blood volume from central to peripheral blood vessels. In contrast, CVP rises during dynamic exercise despite a rise in CO. Therefore peripheral circulatory changes during exercise must counteract the factors that lower CVP when CO rises during rest. Our objectives were to determine the importance of blood flow, the muscle pump, and reflexes on changes in ventricular filling pressure during dynamic exercise. In seven dogs with a surgically produced atrioventricular (AV) block, normal relationships between CO and CVP were established by AV-linked pacing (normal heart rates) during rest and exercise. Cardiac output was altered during rest and treadmill exercise (4 miles/h at 0, 10, or 20% grade) by changing ventricular pacing rate to establish curves relating delta CVP to delta CO. These curves were displaced rightward (higher CO) and upward (higher CVP) by exercise because of the muscle pump. Changing CO by pacing during rest and exercise revealed a constant slope for delta CVP/delta CO of -2.7 mmHg.l-1.min-1. Blockade of reflex vasoconstriction and venoconstriction with hexamethonium at rest and during mild exercise (to isolate effects of the muscle pump) did not alter these slopes or the displacement of the curves by exercise, although CVP was 4.3 mmHg lower at a given CO after blockade.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)