ENDOTHELIUM-DEPENDENT VASORELAXANT EFFECT OF TRILINOLEIN - MEDIATED BY NITRIC-OXIDE AND CYCLIC-GMP

At concentrations ranged from 0.1 nM to 1 mu M, trilinolein concentrat ion-dependently relaxed the phenylephrine-induced constriction of isol ated rat aorta. Concentration-response curves for the interaction betw een trilinolein and phenylephrine showed that trilinolein was unlikely a competitive antagonist of phenylephrine. The vasorelaxant effect of trilinolein was dependent on the presence of intact endothelium. Both N-G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester and methylene blue antagonized this vasorelaxant effect. L-arginine partially reversed the effect of L-NA ME on trilinolein. Linoleic acid had no vasorelaxant effect. We conclu ded that trilinolein is an endothelium dependent vasorelaxant and the underlying mechanism could be a stimulation of the nitric oxide and cy clic GMP pathway.