Norepinephrine Effects on Early Postirradiation Performance Decrement in the Monkey

摘要

Monkeys, trained to perform a discrete trial, cued avoidance task, were used to measure the effectiveness of intravenously infused norepinephrine in preventing the hypotension and performance decrement which usually follows 3000- to 30,000-rad doses of radiation. After a 4000-rad dose of mixed gamma-neutron radiation, 10 animals were infused with norepinephrine at a rate designed to maintain mean arterial blood pressure at approximately 100 mm Hg; for comparison 10 control animals were infused with only isotonic saline after similar irradiation. Norepinephrine, although generally adequate for maintaining blood pressure, did not consistently improve performance during the first 30 minutes postirradiation. (Author)