THE ROLE OF ENDOTHELIN AND NITRIC-OXIDE IN MODULATION OF NORMAL AND SPASTIC CEREBRAL VASCULAR TONE IN THE DOG (VOL 277, PG 77, 1995)

To investigate the roles of endothelin and nitric oxide (NO) in the re gulation of cerebral vascular tone under basal conditions and in cereb ral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage in dogs, we used BQ-12 3 (cyclo(-D-Trp-D-Asp-L-Pro-D-Val-L-Leu-) sodium salt), an endothelin ET(A) receptor antagonist, L-arginine, a substrate for the formation o f NO, and N-G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, an NO synthesis inhibitor , and measured the angiographic diameter of the basilar artery in vivo . In normal dogs, intracisternal (i.c.) injection of BQ-123 (0.6 mg/kg ) produced a 29.4 +/- 6.11% (P < 0.01) increase in the basal diameter 24 h after injection. N-G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (0.6 mg/kg i.c .) produced a 19.3 +/- 2.93% (P < 0.05) decrease in the basal diameter 2 h after injection. This decrease was significantly attenuated by bo th BQ-123 (0.06-0.6 mg/kg i.c.) and L-arginine (6 mg/kg i.c.), but not by D-arginine. In the two-hemorrhage canine model, BQ-123 significant ly inhibited the development of cerebral vasospasm (36.9 +/- 4.11% dec rease on day 5 and 42.0 +/- 4.54% decrease on day 6 in controls vs 21. 7 +/- 4.75% decrease (P < 0.05) on day 5 and 20.8 +/- 4.14% decrease ( P < 0.05) on day 6 for 0.6 mg/kg i.c.). Furthermore, in this model, L- arginine (6 mg/kg i.c.) significantly attenuated the cerebral vasospas m on day 4 from a 30.9 +/- 5.78% decrease (before) to a 12.6 +/- 5.99% decrease (after). The immunoreactive endothelin-1 levels in the endot helial layer and the adventitia of the basilar artery were much higher on days 3 and 7 after the injection of autologous blood than on day 0 before blood injection. These results suggest that endogenous endothe lin and NO both participate in regulating the basal tone of cerebral a rteries, and, therefore, the development of cerebral vasospasm followi ng subarachnoid hemorrhage may be at least partially attributed to an impairment of the balanced action of endothelin and NO. Furthermore, e ndothelin ET(A) antagonists or NO products may be useful in the treatm ent of cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage.