title: Impaired pulmonary artery contractile responses in a rat model of microgravity: role of nitric oxide.
abstract: Vascular contractile hyporesponsiveness is an important mechanism underlying orthostatic intolerance after microgravity. Baroreceptor reflexes can modulate both pulmonary resistance and capacitance function and thus cardiac output. We hypothesized, therefore, that pulmonary vasoreactivity is impaired in the hindlimb-unweighted (HLU) rat model of microgravity. Pulmonary artery (PA) contractile responses to phenylephrine (PE) and U-46619 (U4) were significantly decreased in the PAs from HLU vs. control (C) animals. N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (10(-5) M) enhanced the contractile responses in the PA rings from both C and HLU animals and completely abolished the differential responses to PE and U4 in HLU vs. C animals. Vasorelaxant responses to ACh were significantly enhanced in PA rings from HLU rats compared with C. Moreover, vasorelaxant responses to sodium nitroprusside were also significantly enhanced. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and soluble guanlyl cyclase expression were significantly enhanced in PA and lung tissue from HLU rats. In marked contrast, the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase was unchanged in lung tissue. These data support the hypothesis that vascular contractile responsiveness is attenuated in PAs from HLU rats and that this hyporesponsiveness is due at least in part to increased nitric oxide synthase activity resulting from enhanced eNOS expression. These findings may have important implications for blood volume distribution and attenuated stroke volume responses to orthostatic stress after microgravity exposure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nyhan
authors.forename: Soonyul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dunbar
authors.forename: Dechun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Artin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shoukas
authors.forename: Dan E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Berkowitz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006162:Guanylate Cyclase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D019417:Hindlimb Suspension / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008168:Lung / Q000201:enzymology; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D009126:Muscle Relaxation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000502:physiology; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000494:pharmacology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000096:biosynthesis; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014893:Weightlessness / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052247:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; C496318:Nos2 protein, rat; C496316:Nos3 protein, rat; D006162:Guanylate Cyclase; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester