Rapid hypertonic glucose infusion: Organ location of label after [ 14C]glucose during hemorrhagic shock

Fifty rabbits were bled to a blood pressure of 40 mmHg, and 15 were not bled. [ 14C]Glucose was given intravenously to all animals. Those animals bled also received an equiosmolar dose of 50% glucose or normal saline. In 30 rabbits, the administered osmolar load per kilogram of 50% glucose or saline was constant, regardless of the volume deficit which varies with this shock model. In 10 rabbits, both the osmolar load of 50% glucose or saline and the volume deficit were kept constant. In an additional 10 rabbits, the amount of 50% glucose was increased by a factor of five. Animals were killed after 5, 30, or 60 min of shock. Normal saline increased blood pressure more slowly but the effect was prolonged. Hypertonic glucose rapidly but transiently increased blood pressure in rabbits after hemorrhagic shock. The myocardium of rabbits given 50% glucose did not contain a statistically significant different amount of label than that of rabbits given saline at 5, 30, or 60 min after shock. This suggests that the rapid and transient increase in blood pressure is not mediated by an increased absolute content or tissue uptake of glucose in the myocardium but is related to a rapid extracellular hyperosmotic effect.