Portal venous pressure and portasystemic shunting in experimental portal hypertension.

The relationship between portal venous pressure and the degree of portasystemic shunting was studied in portal vein-ligated and cirrhotic rats anesthetized with halothane. One day after partial portal vein ligation there was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.80, n = 7) between portal pressure and shunting of mesenteric venous blood as measured by injection of radioactive microspheres. The relationship subsequently underwent rapid change but stabilized by 14 days postligation, when higher levels of shunting were again associated with higher portal pressures up to a limit of approximately 70% shunting, above which pressures did not increase further. This relationship was well described by a quadratic function (r = 0.75, n = 17). In cirrhotic rats there was no relationship between portal pressure and shunting (r = -0.01, n = 10). The results suggest that in the prehepatic model there is little inherent variability in capacity to develop shunts, which open to a degree directly related to portal pressure, but that this relationship may be altered in cirrhotic portal hypertension.