Fig. 1.
Three plots from different laboratories and eras (circa, 1919, 1941, and 2012) showing arterial pressure versus time during infusion of epinephrine. (A) (1919) Two 20-min infusions of 6 mg epinephrine in anesthetized dogs, each showing biphasic blood pressure response.4 (B) (1941) Infusion of epinephrine, 7.9 µg kg−1 min−1, in an unanesthetized dog for 2 h leads to progressive shock and death.5 (C) (2012) Bolus infusion of 50 µg/kg epinephrine (arrow) in an anesthetized rat provokes a biphasic blood pressure response with hypotension (mean arterial pressure approximately 55 mmHg) occurring by 4 min (bar, 2 min).9 We were impressed that the early studies produced plots (although for longer infusions) that were nearly identical to ours. Apparently, each generation discovers anew that epinephrine infusion can be harmful.