Effect of different drugs on end-tidal carbon dioxide during rodent CPR.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of non-adrenergic agents on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2) during CPR in a rodent model. Our results suggested that: 1) coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) after drugs infusion was increased significantly by methoxamine, arginine vasopresin (AVP) and angiotension-II (ANG-II), but not by endothelin-1 (ET-1); 2) ETCO2 prior to defibrillation was decreased significantly by a pure alpha 1 adrenergic agents, methoxamine and were increased significantly by non-adrenergic agents, ANG-II and ET-1 during rodent CPR; 3) a significant positive correlation between ETCO2 and CPP was observed in AVP group, suggesting that AVP have little effect on pulmonary circulation; and 4) methoxamine, AVP and ANG-II have similar effect on resuscitability during rodent CPR.