CONDITIONING EFFECTS OF CHRONIC INFUSIONS OF DOBUTAMINE - COMPARISON WITH EXERCISE TRAINING

The authors studied the conditioning effects of chronic infusion of dobutamine and exercise training in three groups of chronically instrumented dogs. One group was infused with normal saline, a second group was infused with dobutamine (40 μg/kg per min), and the third group was exercised on a treadmill at 4 mph, up a 10° incline. Each group was either infused or exercised for 2 h a day, 5 d a week for 5 consecutive wk. Resting heart rate and arterial blood lactate concentration, measured at weekly intervals, decreased progressively in the dobutamine and exercise groups, but not in the group that received normal saline infusion. Cardiovascular responses to submaximal treadmill exercise were not changed by 5 wk of normal saline infusion. However, the increases in heart rate, cardiac output, mean aortic blood pressure, arterial blood lactate, plasma renin activity, and norepinephrine concentration during exercise were significantly smaller after 5 wk of conditioning with either dobutamine or exercise training. After conditioning, the increases in arteriovenous oxygen difference during exercise were larger in the latter two groups, but the increases in total body oxygen consumption did not differ before and after conditioning.