title: Development of intrinsic tone in isolated pulmonary arterioles.
abstract: In isolated porcine pulmonary arterioles with endothelium, intraluminal diameter measured at a transmural pressure of 20 mmHg decreased spontaneously from 233 +/- 11 to 171 +/- 12 micrometer in 135 min. This intrinsic constriction was not prevented by indomethacin, tetraethylammonium, or superoxide dismutase. Indomethacin plus NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester caused initial constriction and BQ-123 or BQ-123 plus BQ-788 caused initial dilation, but these treatments did not prevent subsequent progressive constriction. In pulmonary arterioles with endothelium exposed to calcium-free conditions and pulmonary arterioles without endothelium, the intraluminal diameter measured at a transmural pressure of 20 mmHg was constant at 239 +/- 16 and 174 +/- 7 micrometer, respectively. Thus the spontaneous development of tone in isolated pulmonary arterioles required extracellular calcium and resulted from 1) time-independent smooth muscle contraction caused by mechanisms intrinsic to smooth muscle and 2) time-dependent contraction caused by decreasing activity of endothelium-derived relaxing factors other than nitric oxide, vasodilator prostaglandins, and hyperpolarizing factors acting on calcium-dependent potassium channels or increasing activity of endothelium-derived contracting factors other than endothelin-1, vasoconstrictor prostaglandins, and superoxide anions. Further investigation is indicated to identify these unknown mechanisms and determine their role in pulmonary vasoreactivity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001160:Arterioles / Q000502:physiology*; D065128:Endothelin Receptor Antagonists; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D007213:Indomethacin / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D008168:Lung / Q000098:blood supply*; D008297:Male; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000494:pharmacology; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000494:pharmacology; D010880:Piperidines / Q000494:pharmacology; D011189:Potassium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000494:pharmacology; D013552:Swine; D019789:Tetraethylammonium / Q000494:pharmacology; D014661:Vasoconstriction / Q000187:drug effects; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects