[Effects of dihydroxyacetophenone on pulmonary hemodynamics and plasma ANP as well as cAMP/cGMP level in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

In order to study the effect of dihydroxyacetophenone (DHAP) on pulmonary hemodynamics and its relationship to plasma ANP as well as cAMP/cGMP level in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 11 COPD patients were examined with the right heart catheterisation, and the plasma ANP and cAMP/cGMP were measured with radioimmunoassay at the same time. The results showed that intravenous given DHAP 640 mg could decrease mean pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance and systemic vascular resistance (P < 0.05), but increase the cardiac output from 4.10 +/- 1.08 L/min to 5.13 +/- 1.19 L/min (P > 0.05) and not affect systemic arterial pressure (P > 0.05) as well as blood gas analysis; it also reduce the plasma ANP and cGMP level from 0.73 +/- 0.42 pg/ml to 0.41 +/- 0.33 pg/ml (P < 0.01) and from 9.82 +/- 5.75 pm/ml to 8.01 +/- 4.80 pm/ml (P < 0.05) respectively, but did not affect the plasma cAMP level (P > 0.05). It is suggested that DHAP may relax pulmonary vessels by regulating the ratio of cAMP to cGMP, and the lowering of plasma ANP level might be a secondary reaction. So we consider that DHAP is a fast-acting, safe and potential drug in treating pulmonary arterial hypertension by COPD.