Importance of the Spleen as a Reservoir for Red Blood Cells

Abstract

The fact that different authors vary in their opinion concerning the rôle of the spleen as a reservoir for red blood cells (Radosaljevic and Sekulic, Feldberg and Lewin, and others 1 ) has induced us to study this problem.

In the first group of experiments, we studied the effect of intravenous injection of adrenalin on the peripheral blood picture of normal anesthetized dogs. Chloralose was the narcotic chosen because of its dilating effect on the spleen. In 16 dogs the curve of hematocrit determinations (femoral vein) showed an average maximal increase of 13.4%. In a second series of experiments we compared the curves of the hematocrit values of the splenic vein, portal vein and vena cava (or vena femoralis) of dogs after the injection of adrenalin. It was found that a marked but brief increase of the hematocrit numbers takes place in the splenic vein incident to the rapid contraction of the organ. On the other hand, the co-incidental hematocrit values of the portal vein or of the vena cava increase gradually. The curves in Fig. 1 demonstrate clearly the fallacy of single determinations.

In a third group of dogs the tests were repeated under similar conditions but following splenectomy. No or only a slight increase in the hematocrit numbers was found after the injection of adrenalin. In a fourth series of experiments the liver of dogs was completely excluded from the portal circulation by means of a reversed Eck fistula. No differences were noted in the curves of the hematocrit values as compared with normal dogs.