Increased vascular resistance during complement-activated plasma infusion in swine.

To investigate the acute effects of complement activation on blood flow, we infused complement-activated plasma into the femoral artery of the isolated hindlimb of 19 anesthetized swine. Femoral artery blood flow decreased abruptly, was lowest at 1 min of the infusion, and thereafter slowly increased despite continued infusion. There was no significant change in femoral artery pressure or femoral vein pressure, confirming an acute increase in vascular resistance. Control infusion of heat-decomplemented-activated plasma caused no change in pressure or flow. Slope of the femoral artery pressure-flow relationship during maximal vasodilation with adenosine was significantly lower after infusion of complement-activated plasma, confirming a persistent increase in vascular resistance. Neither the acute nor the persistent increase in vascular resistance was prevented by alpha-adrenergic blockade with phentolamine or granulocytopenia produced by cyclophosphamide. We conclude that complement-activated plasma infusion in the femoral circulation causes an abrupt increase in vascular resistance that persists during pharmacologically maximal vasodilation, is not due to alpha-mediated vasoconstriction, and is not altered by severe granulocytopenia.