title: Hypoxia-induced contraction of chicken embryo mesenteric arteries: mechanisms and developmental changes.
abstract: The fetal cardiovascular responses to acute hypoxia include a redistribution of the cardiac output toward the heart and the brain at the expense of other organs, such as the intestine. We hypothesized that hypoxia exerts a direct effect on the mesenteric artery (MA) that may contribute to this response. Using wire myography, we investigated the response to hypoxia (Po2~2.5 kPa for 20 min) of isolated MAs from 15- to 21-day chicken embryos (E15, E19, E21), and 1- to 45-day-old chickens (P1, P3, P14, P45). Agonist-induced pretone or an intact endothelium were not required to obtain a consistent and reproducible response to hypoxia, which showed a pattern of initial rapid phasic contraction followed by a sustained tonic contraction. Phasic contraction was reduced by elimination of extracellular Ca2+or by presence of the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, the α1-adrenoceptor antagonist prazosin, or inhibitors of L-type voltage-gated Ca2+channels (nifedipine), mitochondrial electron transport chain (rotenone and antimycin A), and NADPH oxidase (VAS2870). The Rho-kinase inhibitor Y27632 impaired both phasic and tonic contraction and, when combined with elimination of extracellular Ca2+, hypoxia-induced contraction was virtually abolished. Hypoxic MA contraction was absent at E15 but present from E19 and increased toward the first days posthatching. It then decreased during the first weeks of life and P45 MAs were unable to sustain hypoxia-induced contraction over time. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrate that hypoxic vasoconstriction is an intrinsic feature of chicken MA vascular smooth muscle cells during late embryogenesis and the perinatal period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW), Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leonie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brinks
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW), Maastricht, The Netherlands.|Department of Pediatrics, Zuyderland Medical Center, Heerlen, The Netherlands; and.
authors.forename: Rob M J
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Moonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moral-Sanz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Barreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW), Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kessels
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perez-Vizcaino
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cogolludo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), School for Oncology and Developmental Biology (GROW), Maastricht, The Netherlands; e.villamor@mumc.nl.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Villamor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D047108:Embryonic Development; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008638:Mesenteric Arteries / Q000196:embryology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000196:embryology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014661:Vasoconstriction
keywords: chicken embryo; fetus; hypoxia; mesenteric; newborn; oxygen signaling