Role of Ca2+ entry in the modulation of airway tone by hypoxia

To evaluate the cellular mechanisms involved in hypoxic relaxation of airway smooth muscle, we investigated the effects of hypoxia on the behavior of third- and fourth-order porcine bronchial rings contracted with either carbachol or KCl. In one series of experiments, hypoxia (95% N2-5% CO2) was imposed and rings were then exposed to increasing concentrations of carbachol or KCl. In separate experiments, rings were first contracted with carbachol (10(-6) M) or KCl (40 mM) and were then exposed to solutions bubbled with decreasing concentrations of O2. The CO2 concentration was maintained constant at 5% in all experiments. The initial magnitude of KCl-induced but not carbachol-induced contractions was profoundly reduced by 95% N2-5% CO2. The sensitivity of the airway to carbachol was unchanged. In rings precontracted with either carbachol or KCl, hypoxia caused similar losses of airway smooth muscle tone in a reversible and concentration-dependent manner. The effects of hypoxia were independent of the presence of an intact epithelium and were not inhibited by the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin (5 microM), the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor methylene blue (50 microM), or the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol (1 microM). The impairment by hypoxia of the initiation phase of KCl-induced contractions and of the maintenance phase of both KCl- and carbachol-induced contractions, but not the initiation phase of carbachol-induced contractions, suggests that changes in O2 tension modulate airway tone by altering the entry of extracellular calcium into the airway smooth muscle.