title: Increased nitric oxide production following chronic hypoxia contributes to attenuated systemic vasoconstriction.
abstract: Attenuated vasoconstrictor reactivity following chronic hypoxia (CH) is associated with endothelium-dependent vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cell hyperpolarization and diminished intracellular [Ca(2+)]. We tested the hypothesis that increased production of nitric oxide (NO) after CH contributes to blunted vasoconstrictor responsiveness. We found that basal NO production of mesenteric arteries from CH rats (barometric pressure = 380 Torr; 48 h) was greater than that of controls (barometric pressure = 630 Torr). In addition, studies employing pressurized mesenteric arteries (100-200 microM ID) abluminally loaded with the Ca(2+) indicator fura 2-AM demonstrated that although NO synthase (NOS) inhibition normalized agonist-induced vasoconstrictor responses between groups, VSM cell [Ca(2+)] in vessels from CH rats remained diminished compared with controls. To determine whether elevated NO production following CH results from increased NOS protein levels, we performed Western blots for NOS isoforms by using mesenteric arteries from control and CH rats. Endothelial NOS levels did not differ between groups, and other NOS isoforms were not detected in these samples. Selective endothelial loading of fura 2-AM was employed to test the hypothesis that elevated endothelial cell [Ca(2+)] following CH accounts for enhanced NOS activity. These experiments demonstrated greater endothelial cell [Ca(2+)] in mesenteric arteries isolated from CH rats compared with controls. We conclude that enhanced production of NO resulting from elevated endothelial cell [Ca(2+)] contributes to attenuated reactivity following CH by decreasing VSM cell Ca(2+) sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Physiology Group, Department of Cell Biology & Physiology, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. searley@salud.umn.edu
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Earley
authors.forename: Benjimen R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008638:Mesenteric Arteries / Q000502:physiology; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D058913:Purinergic Agonists; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011983:Receptors, Purinergic / Q000378:metabolism; D014544:Uridine Triphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology; D014661:Vasoconstriction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D058913:Purinergic Agonists; D011983:Receptors, Purinergic; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; C496316:Nos3 protein, rat; D002118:Calcium; D014544:Uridine Triphosphate