Adenine nucleotides, serotonin, and endothelium-dependent relaxations to platelets

Aggregating platelets cause an endothelium-dependent relaxation of isolated contracted canine coronary arteries. The role of adenine nucleotides and of 5-hydroxytryptamine in causing this relaxation was determined. Rings of these arteries were suspended in organ chambers filled with physiological salt solution and contracted with prostaglandin F2 alpha. Adenosine diphosphate relaxed rings with intact endothelium but had no effect on endothelium-denuded rings. The relaxation was attenuated by the enzyme, apyrase, which hydrolyzes adenosine tri- and diphosphate. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) exerted a direct contractile effect mediated by the endothelium. The latter was prevented by the 5-HT1 serotonergic antagonist, methiothepin, but not by the 5-HT2 serotonergic antagonist, ketanserin. The endothelially mediated relaxation to aggregating platelets was prevented by apyrase but not by methiothepin or ketanserin. Responses to platelets were unaltered by the inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, meclofenamate. These experiments demonstrate the key role of adenine nucleotides in mediating the endothelium-dependent relaxation of canine coronary arteries to aggregating platelets.