beta-Receptor influence on lung vasoconstrictor responses to hypoxia and humoral agents

The role of the adrenergic receptor in mediating pulmonary vascular responses to gaseous and humoral agents was investigated by use of epinephrine injections in the perfused feline pulmonary circulation. Alteration of the balance between alpha- and beta-adrenergic activity was quantified by measurement of decreasing vasoconstrictor activity to epinephrine and rising lobar tissue 3',5'-adenosine cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) levels. The increased beta-adrenergic activity thus generated was associated with marked reductions in the pulmonary vasoconstrictor responses to hypoxia, hypercapnic acidosis, and histamine, but not to serotonin. Repeated pulmonary vasodilations or increases in blood, but not pulmonary tissue, levels of cAMP induced by theophylline doses, which would not necessarily affect the beta-adrenergic activity, did not alter the pulmonary vasoconstrictor responses to hypoxia, hypercapnia, or histamine. These data support the significant role which the adrenergic system plays in mediating pulmonary vasoconstrictor responses to certain specific gaseous and humoral agents, and the specificity with which this mediation occurs serves to link hypoxia and histamine together so that the latter could serve as a mediator of the former.