Effect of prostaglandin E2 on pulmonary vascular resistance in intact dog, swine and lamb

The effects of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) on pulmonary vascular resistance in the intact dog, swine and lamb were studied using a right heart catheterization technique to isolate and perfuse the left lower lung lobe at controlled blood flow. Infusion of PGE2 into the lobar artery increased lobar arterial perfusion pressure but did not alter pressure in the left atrium in all 3 species. The increase in lobar arterial pressure was associated with a rise in pressure in the small intrapulmonary lobar vein in the dog but no change in pressure in these veins in the swine and lamb. Infusion of PGE2 into the iliac artery produced a marked decrease in perfusion pressure in the hindlimb of the dog. The effects of PGE2 on the canine lung occurred in the absence of any significant change in arterial blood gases, pH, hematocrit or rate and volume of respiration, and this substance increased pulmonary vascular resistance when the lung was perfused with dextran instead of blood. These results show that in dog, swine and lamb, PGE2 increases pulmonary vascular resistance; however, the site of vasoconstriction is different in the dog and swine or lamb. In the swine and lamb vasoconstriction occurred primarily in vessels upstream to the small veins, presumably small arteries, whereas in the dog lung, the pre- and postcapillary vessels were actively constricted by this naturally occurring substance.