Halothane enhances pulmonary artery endothelial eicosanoid release

To determine whether anesthetics alter endothelial eicosanoid release, cultured bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells were studied during constant flow and pressure perfusion at two oxygen tensions (hypoxia, 50 +/- 2 mm Hg; normoxia, 144 +/- 5 mm Hg; mean +/- SEM) with and without 1% halothane. Endothelialized microcarriers containing approximately 5 x 10(6) cells were loaded into cartridges and perfused (3 mL/min) with Krebs' solution (pH 7.4, at 37 degrees C) equilibrated with each gas mixture. Eicosanoids (6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha, thromboxane B2, and total peptidoleukotrienes [C4, D4, E4, F4]) were measured by radioimmunoassay and quantified per gram of cellular protein per minute. Eicosanoid release did not vary over time. The 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha release increased during hypoxia (normoxia 291 +/- 27 vs hypoxia 395 +/- 35 ng.min-1 x g protein-1; P < 0.01). Halothane (H) increased release of each eicosanoid during both normoxia and hypoxia: 6-keto prostaglandin F1 alpha-normoxia 291 +/- 27 versus normoxia + H 356 +/- 32 ng.min-1 x g protein-1, hypoxia 395 +/- 35 versus hypoxia + H 464 +/- 40 ng.min-1 x g protein-1, P < 0.05; thromboxane B2-normoxia 19 +/- 2 versus normoxia + H26 +/- 2 ng.min-1 x g protein-1, hypoxia 20 +/- 2 versus hypoxia + H 38 +/- 5 ng.min-1 x g protein-1, P < 0.001; leukotriene-normoxia 363 +/- 35 versus normoxia + H 489 +/- 52 ng.min-1 x g protein-1, hypoxia 329 +/- 29 versus hypoxia + H 455 +/- 39 ng.min-1 x g protein-1, P = 0.001.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)