Noradrenaline, β‐adrenoceptor mediated vasorelaxation and nitric oxide in large and small pulmonary arteries of the rat

1 Noradrenaline induces a meagre vasoconstriction in small muscular pulmonary arteries compared to large conduit pulmonary arteries. We have examined whether this may be partially related to differences in the β‐adrenoceptor‐mediated vasorelaxation component and, in particular, β‐adrenoceptor‐mediat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of pharmacology 1997-12, Vol.122 (7), p.1375-1384
Main Authors: Priest, R. M., Hucks, D., Ward, J. P. T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adrenergic beta-Agonists - pharmacology
Adrenergic beta-Antagonists - pharmacology
Animals
Atenolol - pharmacology
Biological and medical sciences
Blood vessels and receptors
Dinoprost - pharmacology
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
endothelium
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Isoproterenol - pharmacology
Male
nitric oxide
Nitric Oxide - physiology
nitric oxide synthase
Nitric Oxide Synthase - antagonists & inhibitors
Nitric Oxide Synthase - drug effects
noradrenaline
Norepinephrine - pharmacology
omega-N-Methylarginine - pharmacology
Oxytocics - pharmacology
Propanolamines - pharmacology
Propranolol - pharmacology
Pulmonary artery
Pulmonary Artery - drug effects
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Receptors, Adrenergic, beta - metabolism
Vasoconstriction - drug effects
Vasoconstrictor Agents - pharmacology
Vasodilation - drug effects
Vertebrates: cardiovascular system
β‐adrenoceptors
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Summary:1 Noradrenaline induces a meagre vasoconstriction in small muscular pulmonary arteries compared to large conduit pulmonary arteries. We have examined whether this may be partially related to differences in the β‐adrenoceptor‐mediated vasorelaxation component and, in particular, β‐adrenoceptor‐mediated NO release. 2 Noradrenaline induced a bell‐shaped concentration‐response in large (1202±27 μm) and small (334±12 μm) pulmonary arteries of the rat. In large arteries tension increased to 95.6±1.8% of 75 mM KCl (KPSS; n=8) at 2 μM, above which tension declined. The response in small arteries was meagre (12±1.5% KPSS, n=9), peaking at 0.2 μM. NG‐monomethyl‐L‐arginine (L‐NMMA; 100 μM) abolished the decline in tension induced by higher concentrations of noradrenaline in large arteries, and increased maximum tension (117±3.5% KPSS, n=5, P
ISSN:0007-1188
1476-5381
DOI:10.1038/sj.bjp.0701528