Involvement of soluble guanylate cyclase and calcium-activated potassium channels in the long-lasting hyporesponsiveness to phenylephrine induced by nitric oxide in rat aorta
Mr. Terluk et al., Involvement of soluble guanylate cyclase and calcium-activated potassium channels in the long-lasting hyporesponsiveness to phenylephrine induced by nitric oxide in rat aorta, N-S ARCH PH, 361(5), 2000, pp. 477-483
Excessive nitric oxide (NO) production by inducible NO synthase has been im
plicated in the hyporesponsiveness to vasoconstrictors present in septic sh
ock. Here we show that a brief incubation (30 min) of rat aorta rings with
NO donors renders the vessels hyporesponsive to phenylephrine for several h
ours. Contraction of rings without endothelium by phenylephrine (0.1 nM to
100 mu M) was decreased by 50-60% after incubation (30 min) with sodium nit
roprusside (3-300 mu M) or S-nitroso-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine (SNAP; 70-200
mu M). This decrease was characterized by reductions in maximal response a
nd rightwards shifts of phenylephrine concentration/response curves, presen
t even 130 min after NO donor removal. Soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitors
methylene blue (10 mu M) and 1H-(1,2,4)-oxadiazol-(4,3-a)-quinoxalin-1-one
(ODQ, 1 mu M) or the potassium channel blockers TEA (tetraethylammonium; 1
0 mM) and charybdotoxin (100 nM) inhibited the hyporesponsiveness to phenyl
ephrine induced by the NO donors. In contrast, 4-aminopyridine (1 mM) and g
libenclamide (10 mu M) had no effect. Our results show that incubation with
NO donors reproduces the hyporesponsiveness to phenylephrine and that NO a
lone accounts for most, if not all, the refractoriness to vasoconstrictors
present in septic shock. In addition, soluble guanylate cyclase activation
and opening of potassium channels, more specifically the calcium-activated
subtype, play a predominant role in this NO-induced hyporesponsiveness to p
henylephrine in the rat aorta.