Synthetic Vasopressin and Oxytocin Analogs and Their Potential Use in Hemorrhagic, Traumatic and Septic Shock: A Personal Perspective

As one of us has stated many years ago, “shock is a significant and sustained loss of effective circulating blood volume. It will eventuate in hypoperfusion of critical peripheral tissues, thus leading to a deficit in transcapillary exchange function in critical organ regions. Clinically, there are five major types of circulatory shock: cardiogenic; septic; distributive; anaphylactic; and hypovolemic. Hypovolemic shock (HS) is, primarily, due to a marked decrease in venous return, falling arterial blood pressure, and ventricular preload, and usually is caused by hemorrhage, dehydration, excessive diarrhea, trauma, excessive fluid loss from severe burns, increased positive intrathoracic pressure, excessive urinary fluid loss resulting from diuretics, side effects of many chemotherapeutic agents and radiation in cancer patients, or depressed vasomotor tone in the microcirculatio