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Regarding the treatment of vitally endangered intensive care patients the neuroendocrine regulation of the post-aggression metabolism is important. The role of opioid peptides in this system is investigated in the animal experiment "Haemorrhagic Shock in the Dog". It was shown that the opioid peptide beta-endorphin and metenkephalin rise grossly in connection with pathological and endocrinological alterations in shock. Based on the literature the role of increased concentration of opioids in haemorrhagic shock is discussed and conclusions for therapeutic measures are presented.

This contribution reports about the oxygen requirement of the isolated perfused dog pancreas. A solution with the content of red blood corpuscles, a stroma-free hemoglobin solution or a perfusate--free from oxygen carriers--were applied. The oxygen requirement of the pancreas amounts to 0.59 ml/min . 100 g. The oxygen supply of the organ is possible with a flow of 0.50 ml/min . g and an oxygen partial pressure of 65 kPa (487.5 mmHg) also by means of a perfusate free from oxygen carriers.

The influence of different potassium concentrations in the perfusate on the perfusion pressure of isolated dog pancreas is reported. A potassium concentration above 30 mmol/l leads both under hypothermic and normothermic conditions to an increase of the vascular resistance, That's why organs with a small blood flow should be perfused with solutions poor in potassium also in the initial perfusion.

A great role is played in clinical practice by monitoring of vegetative functions, such as heart and respiratory rates. Mean values, rhythms, and interaction of both control variables in the form of respiratory sinus arrhythmia may provide plenty of information, primarily when computerised, and may enable conclusions to be drawn as to neuro-circulatory tonus. The model described in this paper has been devised for the purpose of producing information on types of changes in neurovegetative control in response to functional systemic effects from pharmaceuticals or from substantial, locally delimited lesions of nerve structures. External cardiac denervation is applied for stepwise discontinuation of sympathetic, parasympathetic, spinal, and medullary control systems up to the stage of cerebral death, resulting in cardiac "automatism". Data may thus be derived on the Bainbridge reflex, and correlations may be established with in vitro experiments on chronotropic control of the heart. The results presented in this paper may be of relevance to situations in intensive medical care or to cases with lesions to the central nervous system up to irreversible loss of brain function, when heart rate data recorded from monitoring of the central nervous system or of vegetative functions must be interpreted in all their variability with high reliability and accuracy for differential diagnosis and prognostication.