Vasodilator Responses to Enflurane in the Small Intestine

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Abstract
Local effects of enflurane on intestinal vascular resistance were studied in vivo in cats. A jejunal segment was prepared and perfused at constant flow with blood from the femoral arteries. The intestine was either left with intact sympathetic innervations, denervated and exposed to electrical post-ganglionic vasoconstrictor nerve stimulations or excluded from neurogenic remote control by post-ganglionic denervation. Enflurane dissolved in lipid and intra-arterially administered to the jejunal segment in doses comparable to those clinically encountered, decreased intestinal vascular resistance in relation to the intra-arterial concentration of the drug. The vasodilator response was, at the highest enflurane doses studied (blood concentration: 400 and 800 mg/l), most pronounced in the intestine with intact sympathetic innervation. Otherwise, no differences were observed in vasodilator responses between the 3 different investigated modes of neurogenic influence on the intestine. In vitro enflurane (-in-lipid) did not affect the vasoconstrictor response to electrical field stimulation in the rat mesenteric arterioles. Enflurane dose-dependently reduced spontaneous contractile activity in the rat portal veins.