Influence of dextran of low and high molecular weight on the electrocardiogram of hypothermic dogs

Dogs were cooled three times to 20 ° or 22 °C. They received low molecular weight dextran during one cooling, high molecular weight dextran during another and the third cooling was used as a control when they were given no dextran at all. A 12-lead electrocardiogram was recorded during the cooling. There were no definite differences in the electrocardiograms from the different series. The hypothesis was presented that the aggregation of blood corpuscles, “sludging,” during hypothermia might impair the circulation and produced anoxia causing the ST-T changes. This hypothesis was not corroborated by the present results.