title: Nitric oxide as a regulator of adrenal blood flow.
abstract: To determine whether nitric oxide (NO) is involved in adrenal medullary vasodilation during splanchnic nerve stimulation (NS)-induced catecholamine secretion, blood flow (Q) and secretory responses were measured in pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs before and after administration of the NO synthase inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). L-NAME (40 mg/kg iv over 5 min, followed by 40 mg.kg-1.h-1) reduced NO synthase activity of medullary and cortical homogenates from 5.2 +/- 0.3 to 0.7 +/- 0.1 pmol.min-1.mg protein-1 and from 1.2 +/- 0.2 pmol.min-1.mg protein-1 to undetectable levels, respectively. L-NAME reduced resting medullary and cortical Q by 42 and 60%, respectively. NS before L-NAME increased medullary Q from 181 +/- 16 to 937 +/- 159 ml.min-1.100 g-1 and epinephrine secretion from 1.9 +/- 0.8 to 781 +/- 331 ng/min. NS after L-NAME had no effect on medullary Q (103 +/- 14 vs. 188 +/- 34 ml.min-1.100 g-1), while epinephrine secretion increased to the same extent as in control animals (1.9 +/- 0.7 vs. 576 +/- 250 ng/min). L-NAME also unmasked NS-induced cortical vasoconstriction; cortical Q decreased from 96 +/- 8 to 50 +/- 5 ml.min-1.100 g-1. Administration of hexamethonium (30 mg/kg iv), a nicotinic receptor antagonist, reduced NS-induced epinephrine secretion by 90%. These data suggest independent neural control of medullary Q and catecholamine secretion, the former by NO and the latter by acetylcholine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology/Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland 21287.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Breslow
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Tobin
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bredt
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Ferris
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Traystman
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000098:blood supply*; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000378:metabolism; D004285:Dogs; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D018738:Hexamethonium; D006584:Hexamethonium Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013153:Splanchnic Nerves / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D006584:Hexamethonium Compounds; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D018738:Hexamethonium; D001120:Arginine; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester