Circulation and respiratory effects of adenosine triphosphate in man.

The authors have studied the acute effects of the intravenous and intia-arterial injection of the sodium salt of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in man. Rapid injection causes a frightening sensation in the chest and hYperpnea. The changes found agree with those reported in cats and are consistent with the concept that adenosine triphosphate is a vasodilator in somatic structures but causes an increase in pulmonary vascular and possibly in splanchnic resistance. Its principal action seems to be pharmacologic ratheI than in its role as an intracellular metabolite.