Acute effects of haemorrhage on the composition of arterial blood in immature and adult rabbits, kittens and cats

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Abstract
The fall of hematocrit after stepwise bleeding in rabbits and young kittens was not accompanied by an equivalent fall of plasma N2. The relative failure of plasma N2 to decrease after hemorrhage was not attributable to the entry of diffusible N2 into the circulation. Plasma protein recovery by a combination of stepwise bleeding and viviperfusion was such as to yield values for the whole body/great vessel hematocrit ratio (Fcells) in the normal range in adult cats but significantly below the normal range in young kittens and rabbits. If viviperfusion was not preceded by stepwise bleeding Fcells in the normal range was obtained in young kittens and rabbits. The results of electrophoretic examination of pre- and post-hemorrhagic plasma were consistent with the entry of fresh protein into the circulation after hemorrhage occurring preferentially in the albumin fraction, but increase of albumin/globulin ratio was small in adult cats. The fall of hematocrit after hemorrhage in young kittens and rabbits was mainly due to the entry of protein rich tissue fluid into the circulation. In adult cats, however, the hematocrit did not always fall and any such fall may have been partly due to a shift of plasma from the periphery to the great vessels. The bearing of these observations on the validity of calculation of blood volume from red cell mass and hematocrit during stepwise hemorrhage was considered.