Blood pressures pre- and post-ligation of hepatic artery at the several key points of the hepatic vascular pathway in both the normal and the choline deficient diet induced liver cirrhosis of rats were measured.
The mean portal venous and intrahepatic terminal portal vein pressure in the cirrhotic rat elevated by 102mm H
2O and 40mm H
2O from the normal level respectively, while no remarkable pressure change was there in the central vein and in the inferior vena cava. Hepatic artery ligation produced a decrease by 22mm H
2O in portal vein pressure and a decrease by 10mm H
2O in terminal portal vein pressure in the cirrhotic rat, in contrast to a decrease by 9mm H
2O in the portal vein and by 1.6mm H
2O in the terminal portal vein in the normal rat. There Was no significant pressure change in the ccntral veln and in the inferior vena cava.
The difference of blood pressure in the portal vein between the normal and the cirrhotic rat was calculated to compose of an increase in vascular resistance in the intrahepatic portal vein-56%, an increase in vascular resistance in the sinusoid-27% and pressure transmitted from the hepatic artery-13%.
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