Effect of hypercarbia on hepatic blood flow and oxygen consumption in the greyhound.

The stability of a technique for measuring hepatic blood flow and oxygen consumption was established in six greyhounds anaesthetized with pentobarbitone (group A). Subsequently, the effects of increased PaCO2 were studied in another six animals (group B). With one exception (splenic blood flow) no significant changes were observed in any of the indices measured in group A. In group B, although hepatic arterial blood flow (HABF) decreased when PaCO2 increased, both portal venous blood flow (PVBF) and total liver blood flow (HABF+PVBF) increased. However, these changes were much less marked after 20 min. Hepatic oxygen consumption and splenic venous blood flow were unchanged with an increase in PaCO2.