Injury to the aortic endothelial lining by vasoactive agents.
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Urotensin II is a cyclic undecapeptide which activates the GPR14 receptor and exerts potent vasoconstrictor effects in some species of fish and mammals. The present study intended to investigate isolated vessels from various species in an attempt to find sensitive preparations to be used in studies of the human urotensin (hU-II)/GPR14 system. Contractile responses evoked by noradrenaline (NA), angiotensin II (Ang II), endothelin 1 (ET-1) and hU-II were measured in large vessels (aorta and some large arteries and veins) of rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, pigs and humans. Relaxing effects of hU-II, bradykinin (BK) and substance P (SP) were measured in pig coronary arteries contracted with KCl 30 mM. The rat mesenteric vasculature was investigated from the arterial and venous site to establish the function of ET-1 and hU-II receptors. Results indicate that the only preparation showing high sensitivity to hU-II (pEC(50)=8.27) is the rat aorta, whose contractions in response to hU-II develop slowly and persist for hours, similar to those of ET-1 (pEC(50)=8.35). Effects of NA (pEC(50)=8.12) and Ang II (pEC(50)=7.95) develop and reverse more rapidly. Tissues treated with ET-1 and hU-II show marked desensitization, in contrast to those treated with NA. Specific antagonists for alpha(1) (prazosin, p A(2)=10.46), AT(1) (EXP 3174, p A(2)=10.20), 5HT(2) (ketanserine, p A(2)=8.61) and ET(A)-ET(B) (bosentan, p A(2)=6.88) receptors were shown to block the effects of the respective agonists, while being inactive against hU-II. In some vessels, hU-II behaved as an highly potent but scarcely effective contractile agent. It is concluded that: the hU-II/GPR14 is not a functional contractile system in vessels of several species, in contrast with NA/alpha(1), Ang II/AT(1), 5HT/5HT(2) and ET-1/ET(A)-ET(B). The rat aorta appears however to be a sensitive and reliable preparation for evaluating biological activities of hU-II and related peptides.
Although digitalis preparations have been in use for greater than 200 years, it is only within the last 2 decades that the central hemodynamic and neurohumoral effects occurring over several hours following intravenous administration of digoxin have been investigated in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Although digoxin has been shown to stimulate myocardial contractility in tissue preparations, its positive inotropic activity does not consistently translate into improvements in hemodynamic measurements in humans. Digoxin given intravenously results in increased cardiac index and decreased heart rate, left ventricular filling pressure, and right atrial pressure, as well as in acute attenuation of neurohumoral abnormalities, in patients with chronic CHF who have abnormal baseline hemodynamic measurements. Unlike other drugs with positive inotropic activity, however, digoxin does not influence hemodynamics in normal volunteers or in CHF patients in whom hemodynamics have been normalized with other therapies. These differing effects may be related to the drug's diverse peripheral vascular effects in CHF patients in whom vasodilation may occur in comparison with those that occur in normal subjects in whom the peripheral vasoconstrictor effects may prevent the inotropic effects of the drug from being translated into an increase in cardiac output. The hemodynamic effects of digoxin in patients with chronic CHF due primarily to diastolic dysfunction have not been fully investigated. Intravenous digoxin produces hemodynamic effects in patients with CHF associated with acute myocardial infarction, but these changes are small compared with those resulting from the administration of dobutamine. Digoxin does not appear to influence hemodynamic measurements in patients with right ventricular dysfunction unless concomitant left ventricular failure is present. In patients with chronic left ventricular dysfunction, the hemodynamic effects of intravenous digoxin and vasodilators are enhanced when these agents are given in combination.
Cultured aortic fibroblasts express high affinity Et-1 binding sites that poorly discriminate between Et-1 and Et-3. Both endothelins activate phospholipase C hence indicating the presence of ETB receptors. Fibroblasts respond to bradykinin by large activations of phospholipase C and increases in [Ca2+]i in a manner that was abolished by D-Arg, [Hyp3,Thi5,8,D-Phe7]-bradykinin, thus indicating the presence of B2 kinin receptors. Finally, ATP, UTP and ADP increases [Ca2+]i in aortic fibroblasts via a nucleotide receptor that has a higher affinity for ATP and UTP (3 microM) than for ADP (50 microM) and that is distinct from P2x and P2y purinoceptors.
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In an attempt to investigate the possible contribution of the mesenteric and hepatic vasculature to the haemodynamic changes occurring during bovine systemic anaphylaxis, the pharmacological reactivity of isolated bovine mesenteric and hepatic veins was studied. Both mesenteric and hepatic veins contracted in the presence of histamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT), acetylcholine, dopamine and noradrenaline, and relaxed in the presence of isoprenaline. The mesenteric veins contracted in the presence of concentrations of isoprenaline greater than 1 mug/ml. By the use of antagonists, the receptor populations of bovine mesenteric and hepatic veins were shown to be similar to those of many other vascular preparations. Hepatic veins isolated from calves previously sensitised to horse serum contracted forcefully in the presence of horse plasma (the Schultz-Dale phenomenon), whereas mesenteric veins isolated from the same animals did not. Hepatic veins may be implicated in the haemodynamics of bovine systemic anaphylaxis.
The studies concerned the effects of epinephrine, norepinephrine, phenylephrine, acetylcholine and K+ ions, in doses inducing maximal contraction on oxygen consumption of isolated rat portal veins. All the agonists tested stimulated the rate of O2 uptake, whereas high K+ did not. After specific blockade of alpha-adrenoceptors, the effects of epinephrine and norepinephrine on O2 consumption were not affected, whilst those of phenylephrine were abolished, and beta-adrenoceptor blockade suppressed the metabolic effect of epinephrine and norepinephrine. Acetylcholine was the agonist that most elevated O2 consumption; atropine blocked both contractile and metabolic effects of this drug. It appears that there is a clear dissociation between contractile and metabolic actions of some pharmacological agents, and a question is posed concerning phenylephrine and acetylcholine effects. Results with K+ suggest that different metabolic pathways might be involved in the activation and maintenance of drug-induced contraction in smooth muscle.
The effect of hydralazine treatment on 3 murine tumours (RIF-1, KHT and 16/C) was monitored using 31P-NMR. Changes in the 31P-NMR spectrum are compared with measurements of radiobiological hypoxic fraction (RHF) in the RIF-1 and KHT. Hydralazine is known to reduce temporarily blood flow in experimental tumours, and thus cause a transient increase in the RHF to 100% (in RIF-1 and KHT). This correlates with a decline in energy status as measured by 31P-NMR (i.e. there was an increase in Pi in all three tumours). Time-course data from the RIF-1 and KHT tumours show that maintenance of anaesthesia prolongs the hypoxia induced by hydralazine.
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Autologous blood was injected into the cisterna magna of mongrel dogs twice with an interval of 48 hours. They were killed 3 days, 1 week, or 4 weeks after the first injection of blood, and helical strips of the basilar artery were prepared. Contractions induced by 5-hydroxytryptamine, noradrenaline, prostaglandin F2 alpha, and oxyhemoglobin were significantly potentiated. Relaxations caused by nicotine, K+, arachidonic acid, and prostaglandin I2 were suppressed, but the relaxant response to calcium ionophore A23187 and substance P did not change significantly. These results suggest that contractions mediated via activation of alpha, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and prostaglandin F2 alpha receptors are potentiated, and relaxations caused by stimulation of vasodilator nerves and by endogenous and exogenous prostaglandin I2 are attenuated in dog basilar arteries exposed to subarachnoid clot. On the other hand, certain relaxations possibly mediated by endothelium-derived relaxing factor do not appear to be significantly influenced.