Cardiovascular effects of ethanol, its congeners and synthetic bourbon in dogs

Abstract

The hemodynamic effects of ethanol, methanol, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, iso-amyl alcohol and synthetic bourbon were studied in anesthetized, open chest dogs. The blood levels of ethanol and congeners were measured by gas chromatography. When the blood ethanol levels were less than 3 mg/ml, heart rate, systemic arterial pressure and myocardial contractile force increased slightly. However, with higher levels of ethanol, these three parameters decreased progressively as pulmonary arterial pressure increased. Likewise, methanol, ethyl acetate, iso-amyl alcohol and synthetic bourbon depressed the cardiovascular functions with the smaller blood levels. Among the congeners studied, iso-amyl alcohol caused the most marked myocardial depressant action. Acetaldehyde always increased heart rate, systemic arterial pressure and myocardial contractile force significantly. The magnitude of the hemodynamic changes produced by synthetic bourbon was practically similar to those by synthetic ethanol when the blood ethanol levels were less than 3 mg/ml. However, with the higher doses, synthetic bourbon caused significantly greater hemodynamic changes than synthetic ethanol.