Peripheral resistance, total

It is well accepted that hypertension is a multifactorial disease. Only about 10% of the hypertensive patients have secondary hypertension for which causes, ie, partial coarctation of the renal artery, pheochromacytoma, aldosteronism, hormonal imbalances, etc, are known. The hallmark of hypertension is an abnormally elevated total peripheral resistance. In most patients hypertension produces no serious symptoms particularly in the early phase of the disease. This is why hypertension is called a silent killer. However, prolonged suffering of high arterial blood pressure leads to end organ damage, causing stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure, etc. Adequate treatment of hypertension has been proven to decrease the incidence of cardiovascular morbidity and mortaUty and therefore prolong life (176—183). 

ACE inhibitors lower the elevated blood pressure in humans with a concomitant decrease in total peripheral resistance. Cardiac output is increased or unchanged heart rate is unchanged urinary sodium excretion is unchanged and potassium excretion is decreased. ACE inhibitors promote reduction of left ventricular hypertrophy. 

P-Adrenoceptor Blockers. There is no satisfactory mechanism to explain the antihypertensive activity of P-adrenoceptor blockers (see Table 1) in humans particularly after chronic treatment (228,231—233). Reductions in heart rate correlate well with decreases in blood pressure and this may be an important mechanism. Other proposed mechanisms include reduction in PRA, reduction in cardiac output, and a central action. However, pindolol produces an antihypertensive effect without lowering PRA. In long-term treatment, the cardiac output is restored despite the decrease in arterial blood pressure and total peripheral resistance. Atenolol (Table 1), which does not penetrate into the brain is an efficacious antihypertensive agent. In short-term treatment, the blood flow to most organs (except the brain) is reduced and the total peripheral resistance may increase. 

Calcium channel blockers reduce arterial blood pressure by decreasing calcium influx, resulting in a decrease in intracellular calcium (236,237). The arterial smooth muscle tone decreases, thereby decreasing total peripheral resistance. The increase in vascular resistance in hypertension is found to depend much on calcium influx. Calcium channel blockers reduce blood pressure at rest and during exercise. They decrease the transmembranous calcium influx or entry that lead to a net decrease of intracellular calcium and therefore the vascular tone falls, as does blood pressure. 

The principal mechanism of the hypotensive effect of diuretics (qv) is salt and fluid depletion, leading to reduction in blood volume (200,240). Acute effects lead to a decrease in cardiac output and an increase in total peripheral resistance. However, during chronic adrninistration, cardiac output and blood volume return toward normal and total peripheral resistance decreases to below pretreatment values. As a result, the blood pressure falls. The usual reduction in blood volume is about 5%. A certain degree of sustained blood volume contraction has to occur before the blood pressure decreases. The usual decrease in blood pressure achieved using a diuretic is about 20/10 mm Hg (2.7/1.3 kPa) (systoHc/diastoHc pressures. 

Methyldopa. Methyldopa reduces arterial blood pressure by decreasing adrenergic outflow and decreasing total peripheral resistance and heart rate having no change in cardiac output. Blood flow to the kidneys is not changed and that to the heart is increased. It causes regression of myocardial hypertrophy. 

Glonidine. Clonidine decreases blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, stroke volume, and total peripheral resistance. It activates central a2 adrenoceptors ia the brainstem vasomotor center and produces a prolonged hypotensive response. Clonidine, most efficaciously used concomitantly with a diuretic in long-term treatment, decreases renin and aldosterone secretion. 

Indapamide has been shown to possess diuretic and iadependent vasodilatory effects (16). It lowers the elevated blood pressure and reduces total peripheral resistance without an iacrease ia heart rate. ladapamide antagoni2es the vasocoastrictiag effects of the catecholamiaes and angiotensin II (16), a property not shared by other thia2ide-type diuretics. Tripamide is also reported to have direct vasodilatory effects (13). 

Although blood pressure control follows Ohm s law and seems to be simple, it underlies a complex circuit of interrelated systems. Hence, numerous physiologic systems that have pleiotropic effects and interact in complex fashion have been found to modulate blood pressure. Because of their number and complexity it is beyond the scope of the current account to cover all mechanisms and feedback circuits involved in blood pressure control. Rather, an overview of the clinically most relevant ones is presented. These systems include the heart, the blood vessels, the extracellular volume, the kidneys, the nervous system, a variety of humoral factors, and molecular events at the cellular level. They are intertwined to maintain adequate tissue perfusion and nutrition. Normal blood pressure control can be related to cardiac output and the total peripheral resistance. The stroke volume and the heart rate determine cardiac output. Each cycle of cardiac contraction propels a bolus of about 70 ml blood into the systemic arterial system. As one example of the interaction of these multiple systems, the stroke volume is dependent in part on intravascular volume regulated by the kidneys as well as on myocardial contractility. The latter is, in turn, a complex function involving sympathetic and parasympathetic control of heart rate intrinsic activity of the cardiac conduction system complex membrane transport and cellular events requiring influx of calcium, which lead to myocardial fibre shortening and relaxation and affects the humoral substances (e.g., catecholamines) in stimulation heart rate and myocardial fibre tension. 

The regulation of the total peripheral resistance also involves the complex interactions of several mechanisms. These include baroreflexes and sympathetic nervous system activity response to neurohumoral substances and endothelial factors myogenic adjustments at the cellular level, some mediated by ion channels and events at the cellular membrane and intercellular events mediated by receptors and mechanisms for signal transduction. As examples of some of these mechanisms, there are two major neural reflex arcs (Fig. 1). Baroreflexes are derived from high-pressure barorecep-tors in the aortic arch and carotid sinus and low-pressure cardiopulmonary baroreceptors in ventricles and atria. These receptors respond to stretch (high pressure) or... 

Explain how the autonomic nervous system alters cardiac output, total peripheral resistance, and therefore mean arterial pressure... 

Mean arterial pressure = cardiac output x total peripheral resistance... 

Total peripheral resistance (TPR) is the resistance to blood flow offered by all systemic vessels taken together, especially by the arterioles, which are the primary resistance vessels. Therefore, MAP is regulated by cardiac activity and vascular smooth muscle tone. Any change in CO or TPR causes a change in MAP. The major factors that affect CO, TPR, and therefore MAP, are summarized in Figure 15.3, as well as in Table 15.1. These factors may be organized into several categories and will be discussed as such ... 

Figure 15.3 Factors that affect mean arterial pressure. Mean arterial pressure is determined by cardiac output and total peripheral resistance. Important factors that influence these two variables are summarized in this figure.

Figure 15.4 Effects of the autonomic nervous system on mean arterial pressure. The baroreceptors, chemoreceptors, and low-pressure receptors provide neural input to the vasomotor center in the brainstem. The vasomotor center integrates this input and determines the degree of discharge by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems to the cardiovascular system. Cardiac output and total peripheral resistance are adjusted so as to maintain mean arterial pressure within the normal range.

Notes CO cardiac output VR venous return HR heart rate SV stroke volume EDV end-diastolic volume ESV end-systolic volume O blood flow AP pressure gradient R resistance r vessel radius P systolic pressure Piiastoik- diastolic pressure MAP mean arterial pressure TPR total peripheral resistance, P venous pressure Era- right atrial pressure Rv venous resistance. 

Figure 15.5 Effects of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous activity on mean arterial pressure. The parasympathetic nervous system innervates the heart and therefore influences heart rate and cardiac output. The sympathetic nervous system innervates the heart and veins and thus influences cardiac output. This system also innervates the arterioles and therefore influences total peripheral resistance. The resulting changes in cardiac output and total peripheral resistance regulate mean arterial pressure.

Loss of plasma volume leads to a decrease in MAP. Baroreceptors located in the aortic and carotid sinuses detect this fall in MAP and elicit reflex responses that include an increase in the overall activity of the sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic stimulation of the heart and blood vessels leads to an increase in cardiac output (CO) and increased total peripheral resistance (TPR). These adjustments, which increase MAP, are responsible for the short-term regulation of blood pressure. Although increases in CO and TPR are effective in temporary maintenance of MAP and blood flow to the vital organs, these activities cannot persist indefinitely. Ultimately, plasma volume must be returned to normal (see Table 19.1). 

A decrease in plasma volume leads to decreased MAP, which is detected by baroreceptors in the carotid sinuses and the arch of the aorta. By way of the vasomotor center, the baroreceptor reflex results in an overall increase in sympathetic nervous activity. This includes stimulation of the heart and vascular smooth muscle, which causes an increase in cardiac output and total peripheral resistance. These changes are responsible for the short-term regulation of blood pressure, which temporarily increases MAP toward normal. 

The answer is d. (Katzung, p 130J Epinephrine has a positive ionotropic and chronotropic effect on the heart because of its pradrenergic activity It also has a-adrenergic activity that causes vasoconstriction in the vascular beds. These actions result in a rise in systolic blood pressure. Epinephrine also has p2-adrenergic activity, which causes vasodilation in skeletal muscle. Because of this latter effect, total peripheral resistance can fall, resulting in a drop in diastolic pressure, particularly at low doses of epinephrine. 

Clonidine, guanabenz, guanfacine, and methyldopa lower BP primarily by stimulating a2-adrenergic receptors in the brain, which reduces sympathetic outflow from the vasomotor center and increases vagal tone. Stimulation of presynaptic oq-receptors peripherally may contribute to the reduction in sympathetic tone. Consequently, there may be decreases in heart rate, cardiac output, total peripheral resistance, plasma renin activity, and baroreceptor reflexes. 

Cardiovascular 1 Myocardial sensitivity to /J-adrenergic stimulation 1 Baroreceptor activity i Cardiac output T Total peripheral resistance... 

It therefore seems likely that the anti-hypertensive action of the -blocking drugs is in some way associated with the decline in peripheral resistance which had initially been elevated as a response to a reduction in cardiac output. The precise mechanism responsible for the fall in total peripheral resistance is as yet unknown. We do know however that the majority of untreated hypertensives show an excessive sympathetic response to stimulae such as stress and exercise. It has been clearly shown that the substantial rise in blood pressure experienced by hypertensive patients following exercise is prevented by 8-blocking drugs (20). It could be therefore that it is simply the blockade of surges in cardiac output and blood pressure which leads to a relaxation of the vascular bed and the... 

The generally accepted equation describing the hemodynamic factors regulating blood pressure may be expressed In the form BP = CO x TPR where BP Is the mean arterial pressure, CO the cardiac output, and TPR the total peripheral resistance. Using this simplified equation, it may be concluded that high blood pressure may result from a high cardiac output, a high total peripheral resistance, or a combination of the two. 

From this series, compound MCI-154 (CAS 98326-33-1) (30) has been investigated in detail [95,96]. In vivo studies (anaesthetized dogs) revealed that doses of 0.3-100 tg/kg (i.v. administration) of MCI-154 produce dose-dependent increases in dF/dtmax and cardiac output, and decreases in arterial blood pressure and total peripheral resistance. The positive inotropic effect of (30) has been found to be superior to that exhibited by amrinone and milrinone [97,98]. It has been stated that MCI-154 exerts its activity probably by increasing the calcium-ion sensitivity of the contractile protein system of the cardiac skinned fibres [99,100]. A recent investigation suggests that inhibition of phosphodiesterase III is an important component of its cardiotonic activity [101]. 

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