Saline infusion into lumen of resistance artery and small vein causes contraction

Infusion of saline into the lumen of a resistance artery from the rabbit ear at rates between 0.5 and 20 microliters/min causes a rate-dependent maintained contraction. This contraction is independent of the direction of saline flow and of the endothelium. The contraction is prevented by pretreatment with the vasodilator papaverine (0.1 mM), which also reversed the contraction during flow. Exclusion of calcium from the physiological saline solution plus ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (1 mM) prevents the contraction, as does pre-exposure to cobalt (1 mM) and manganese (1 mM). Both these ions depress saline flow contraction once it is established. Saline flow-dependent contraction changes in a complex manner with temperature. It is greatest in resistance arteries from the pial, ear (skin), and femoral (muscle) segments, moderate to poor in coronary, mesenteric, and renal segments, and absent in the pulmonary segments. A small ear vein adjacent to the ear resistance artery also contracts to saline infusion. Although an explanation based on the washout of a vasodilator metabolite cannot be excluded, we favor the hypothesis that saline flow-induced shear stress of the inner surface of the vessel wall mechanically activates the vascular smooth muscle cells causing an extracellular Ca2(+)-dependent contraction. This response takes place through indomethacin-insensitive calcium-dependent mechanisms in vascular smooth muscle that differ from those associated with commonly studied surface receptors and with stretch.