Maintenance of pulmonary vasculature tone by blood derived from the inferior vena cava in a rabbit model of cavopulmonary shunt

We developed a cavopulmonary shunt rabbit model in which the inferior vena caval blood was derived from the right ventricle. Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction was maintained in the model with the blood flow from the right ventricle. When the blood flow was not maintained, however, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction disappeared. This phenomenon strongly suggests that a substance in hepatic venous effluent partially regulates the physiological pulmonary vascular function in the rabbit lung.