ABSTRACT
This chapter describes methods of preparing uremic dogs and of maintaining them on hemodialysis and presents preliminary results of hemodynamic studies in these animals. The hemodialyzed animal is ideally suited for study of the acute effects of electrolyte changes on cardiovascular and neurologic function. One of the principal reasons why we attempted to study uremic, hemodialyzed dogs was to obtain more information about hemodialysis-induced hypotension. A number of ideas were promulgated to explain why hemodialysis might result in hypotension: the acetate theory, the catecholamine hypothesis, the osmolality hypothesis, the potassium hypothesis, and, most recently, the temperature theory. Impaired vascular response during hemodialysis has also been ascribed to acute decreases in plasma osmolality, which occur principally because of decreases in the plasma urea level. The conscious dog model seems to be an excellent method to evaluate both the bicarbonate-generating ability and hemodynamic effects of alternate buffer bases in a dialysis setting.
