EPINEPHRINE FOR DOGS
By Tess Thompson
Hyperadrenocorticism in dogs or Cushing’s disease is a serious condition that affects multiple organs. It has the potential of causing serious and complex medical conditions like heart failure, inflammation of the pancreas and kidney related disorders like diabetes.
Cushing’s disease in dogs is instrumental in the weakening of all muscles including heart muscles that are required to pump blood to various parts of the body. In such conditions epinephrine is used to induce controlled contractions in the heart muscles to resuscitate and resume heart functions.
Epinephrine is secreted by the adrenal medulla in response to stress. It stimulates the part of nervous system that controls involuntary actions.
When secreted it enters the blood stream and prepares the body to take action in emergencies. Generally speaking, epinephrine is what makes an individual either fight or take flight in the face of danger. It is what induces reflex actions such as shutting eyes in bright light or removing body if a blow is expected from someone.
Epinephrine works on the body and affects body functions in various ways.:
* It increases heart rate and stroke volume.
* It dilates the pupils.
* It contracts the arterioles (small thin-walled arteries that end in capillaries) in the stomach and skin.
* It dilates arterioles in the leg muscles.
* It raises blood sugar levels.
* It curbs the immune system.
Epinephrine was synthesized in the early 20th Century. Due to its properties of stimulation it has been used since then as a drug for conditions like cardiac arrest and abnormal muscle contraction rate in the heart. Although it helps in sending blood to the essential organs in the body, the accompanying increase in cardiac petulance is an important damaging effect.
Epinephrine is also used in conditions of allergies and asthma.
Natural epinephrine levels in dogs are affected when he is subjected to intravenous or inhalation (halothane) anesthetic drugs or epidurals.
Synthetic epinephrine is also administered in dogs that suffer from heart related conditions due to other conditions like the Cushing’s disease.
There have been a lot of private as well as governmental researches and studies done on the subject of harmful effects of increased levels of epinephrine. The results remain inconclusive in many cases.
References:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1189407 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2589680&dopt=Abstract
http://circres.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/circresaha;13/1/64
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