title: Insulin NO-dependent action on airways smooth muscles.
abstract: In order to find out how insulin acts on airway smooth muscle and which mechanisms could be involved, we studied the effect of insulin on contraction induced, first, by KCl and, second, by Acetylcholine (Ach), before and after epithelium removal, and finally in the presence of N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor. Tracheal smooth muscle strips from 24 rabbits, 6 being used for each experiment. Each muscle strip was pretreated with a solution containing either 80 mM KCl or 10(-5) Ach and increasing doses of insulin (range 10(-10)--10(-5) M) in the presence or absence of 10(-4) M L-NAME. A reference curve for contraction evoked by 80 mM KCl or 10(-5) M Ach in the presence or absence of 10(-4) M L-NAME was recorded each time before the pretreatment mentioned above. Insulin evoked a concentration-dependent inhibition of tracheal smooth muscle contraction, induced by 80 mM KCl or 10(-5) M Ach. After epithelium removal, insulin (10(-8), 10(-7) M) evoked statistically significant increases to the contractions induced by 10(-5) M Ach compared to the contractions induced by 10(-5) M Ach and insulin in the presence of epithelium (P < 0.05). These increases were higher when 10(-4) M l-NAME was added to the bath (P < 0.05). In conclusion, these results indicate that insulin inhibits tracheal smooth muscle contraction by acting on epithelium and releasing NO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical School, University of Thessaly Larissa, Greece.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papayianni
authors.forename: K I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Gourgoulianis
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Molyvdas
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000494:pharmacology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D011189:Potassium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D011817:Rabbits; D014132:Trachea / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D007328:Insulin; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D011189:Potassium Chloride; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000109:Acetylcholine; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester