The effects of a novel vasodilator, LP-805, on cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations and on tension in rabbit isolated femoral arteries

Mechanism of endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by thrombin in the pig coronary artery

The mechanism of thrombin-induced endothelium-dependent relaxation was investigated using fura-2 front-surface fluorometry. Thrombin induced an endothelium-dependent relaxation during U46619-induced contractions in pig coronary arterial strips. The relaxation consisted of two components: the early phasic component with a transient decrease in [Ca2+]i of smooth muscle and the subsequent sustained tonic component without [Ca2+]i decrease. The phasic relaxation was inhibited by a combination of N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine and K+-depolarization, while the tonic component was inhibited by either indomethacin or K+-depolarization. Thrombin induced a transient [Ca2+]i increase and nitric oxide (NO) production in pig aortic valvular endothelial cells, which expressed NO synthase as determined by reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction. Thus, it was concluded that NO and hyperpolarizing factor were involved in the phasic component of thrombin-induced relaxation and that hyperpolarizing factor and prostacyclin were involved in the tonic component.

Endothelium-mediated and N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester-sensitive responses to cromakalim and diazoxide in the rat mesenteric bed

The effects of two 'K+ channel openers', (+/-)-6-cyano-3,4-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-trans-4-(2-oxo-1-pyrrolidyl )-2 H-benzo[b]-pyran-3-ol (cromakalim) and 7-chloro-3-methyl-2 H-1,2,4-benzothiadiazine 1,1-dioxide (diazoxide), were studied on the rat isolated mesenteric bed. Differences in the perfusion pressure were measured as a parameter of vascular resistance. Cromakalim (0.1-700 microM) and diazoxide (1 microM-1 mM) reduced to 60% the contractions elicited by 10 microM noradrenaline and to 30% those evoked by 100 mM KCl. The relaxant effects of cromakalim and diazoxide on the noradrenaline-induced contractions were reduced by the K(+)-ATP channel blocker, 5-chloro-N-[2-[4-[[[(cyclohexylamino) carbonyl]amino]-sulfonyl]phenyl]ethyl]-2-methoxybenzamide (glibenclamide, 0.01-0.3 microM), endothelium removal with 0.1% saponin and pretreatment with the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor, S(+/-)-N5-[imino(nitroamino)methyl]-L-ornithine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME, 500 microM). Reductions in the relaxant responses after endothelium removal or L-NAME pretreatment were observed with 1-100 microM cromakalim and with 30 microM diazoxide but not with 100 and 300 microM diazoxide. Pretreatment with the inactive stereoisomer D-NAME as well as with the prostanoid synthesis inhibitor, 1-[p-chlorobenzoyl]-5-methoxy-2-methylindole-3-acetic acid (indomethacin, 10 microM), did not affect the reductions in contractile responses to noradrenaline caused by either cromakalim or diazoxide. It is concluded that the relaxant effects of cromakalim and diazoxide in the rat mesenteric bed are endothelium-mediated and L-NAME-sensitive and could at least partially involve the participation of nitric oxide.