Direct Vascular Effects of Furosemide in Humans

Peter Pickkers, Tom P. J. Dormans, Frans G. M. Russel, Alun D. Hughes, Theo Thien, Nicolaas Schaper, Paul Smits
1997 Circulation  
In humans, hemodynamic changes observed within minutes after systemic administration of furosemide are often referred to as direct vasoactivity. However, these imme diate changes do not per se imply a direct vascular effect. We examined the genuine direct vascular effects of furosemide on the human forearm vascular bed and dorsal hand vein. Methods and Results Forearm blood flow in response to infusion of increasing dosages of furosemide into the brachial arte 17 was recorded by venous
more » ... plethysmography. Local plasma concentrations of furosemide reached a maxi mum of 234±40 ju,g/mL during the highest infused dose but did not significantly affect the ratio of flow in the infused/non in fused arms. Venous distensibility of a dorsal hand vein was measured with a linear variable differential transformer. Dur ing precontraction with norepinephrine, five increasing dosages of furosemide (1 to 100 /¿g/min) were administered locally. Additional experiments using local administration of indomethacin or A/G-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) were car ried out to determine whether effects were dependent on local
doi:10.1161/01.cir.96.6.1847 pmid:9323071 fatcat:dfotev4tovf57dfnpe2gr26dvq