Relative contribution of preload and afterload to the reduction in cardiac output caused by nitric oxide synthase inhibition with L-N(G)-methylarginine hydrochloride 546C88
OBJECTIVE: The nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-N(G)-methylarginine hydrochloride (L-NMMA HC1 546C88) causes reductions in cardiac output (CO), a potential limitation to clinical application. This drop in CO exceeds that from phenylephrine at matched systemic arterial pressure. We tested the hypothesis that the greater fall in CO attributable to L-NMMA primarily reflects a difference in venoconst
