Increased intracellular Na+ and depolarization favor angiotension tachyphylaxis in rabbit aorta

Tachyphylaxis to both angiotensin II (ANG II) and Sar1-ANG II is observed in normal rabbit aorta rings, but helical strips show tachyphylaxis only to Sar1-ANG II, whereas everted rings are not tachyphylactic to either analogue. In normal rings, a good correlation was observed between intraluminal pH and degree of tachyphylaxis to both analogues, suggesting that rate-limiting access of the agonists to their site of action may enhance tachyphylaxis in this preparation. Membrane potential and intracellular Na+ activity measurements, as well as the relaxation by K+ of norepinephrine-contracted preparations in K(+)-free medium, indicated that helical strips are more depolarized than everted rings due to Na+ leakage into the smooth muscle cells. These results suggest that the differences in the degree of tachyphylaxis induced by angiotensin in different rabbit aorta preparations are due to a less accessible site of action in normal rings and to the higher intracellular Na+ and more depolarized state of helical strips relative to everted rings.