Inositolphosphate formation in thoracic and abdominal rat aorta following Gq/11-coupled receptor stimulation

Although thoracic and abdominal rat aorta are often used as a classical pharmacological preparation for the assessment of vascular drug effects, little is known on regional differences among these two parts of the aorta with regard to their reaction to Gq/11-coupled receptor activation. Thus, we determined, in rings from thoracic and abdominal aorta from 12-week-old male Wistar rats, the effects of noradrenaline (NA; 10(-8)-10(-4) M), endothelin-1 (ET-1; 10(-10)-10(-6) M) and the thromboxane A2 mimetic U 46619 (10(-8)-10(-5) M) on inositolphoshate (IP) formation (assessed as accumulation of total [3H]IPs in [3H]myoinositol prelabelled rings). NA, ET-1 and U 46619 concentration-dependently increased IP formation; maximum increases were, however, significantly more pronounced in thoracic than in abdominal aorta. Similarly, NA, ET-1 and U 46619 evoked significantly larger maximum contractions in thoracic than in abdominal aorta. NA-induced [3H]IP formation could be inhibited with BMY 7378 (10(-9)-10(-4) M) and with 5-methyl-urapidil (5-MU; 10(-9)-10(-5) M) both exhibiting biphasic concentration-inhibition curves. The pKi-values for BMY 7378 at the high affinity site were in thoracic aorta 8.93+/-0.28 (n=5), and in abdominal aorta 8.76+/-0.35 (n=4) and at the low affinity site 6.45+/-0.2 (thoracic aorta) and 6.55+/-0.27 (abdominal aorta). pKi-Values for 5-MU in thoracic aorta at the high affinity site were 8.25+/-0.34 (n=4), and at the low affinity site 6.61+/-0.39 . In abdominal aorta reliable pKi-values could not be calculated for 5-MU due to a low signal-to-noise ratio. On the other hand, in both preparations the ETA-receptor antagonist BQ-123 (10(-9)-10(-5) M) and the TP-receptor antagonist SQ 29548 (10(-9)-10(-5) M) inhibited ET-1- and U 46619-induced IP formation, respectively, with monophasic concentration-inhibition curves: pKi-values for BQ-123 were: 8.16+/-0.24 (thoracic aorta) and 8.10+/-0.35 (abdominal aorta) and for SQ 29548: 8.2+/-0.3 (thoracic aorta) and 8.5+/-0.3 (abdominal aorta). The amount of immunodetectable Gq/11-protein was similar in both tissues. We conclude that responses to NA, ET-1 and U 46619 (IP formation and contractile force) are larger in thoracic than in abdominal aorta. ET-1 effects on IP formation are mediated by ETA-receptors and U 46619 effects by TP-receptors. NA effects are mediated by alpha1D- and alpha1A-adrenoceptors; alpha1B-adrenoceptors seem to play a minor role.