The effects of ischemia-reperfusion on endothelial cell function in postnatal intestine

The goal of these experiments was to determine whether the perturbation of ischemia-reperfusion has an age-dependent effect on subsequent endothelial cell production of nitric oxide. Three- and 35-d-old swine in the experimental group were exposed to 1-h partial ischemia (90% flow reduction) and 2-h reperfusion in vivo by creation and then removal of a mesenteric artery coarctation. Control subjects underwent exposure of the mesenteric artery only. After reperfusion, gut vascular resistance had increased 44 +/- 6% in 3-d-old, but had decreased 41 +/- 4% in 35-d-old subjects. At the completion of the in vivo portion of the protocol mesenteric artery was removed, and nitric oxide production was estimated in vitro, by measuring cGMP production by vessel segments or by measuring relaxation of phenylephrine-precontracted rings, both after stimulation of nitric oxide production by substance P or the calcium ionophore A23187. Compared with control, mesenteric artery segments from 3-d-old subjects demonstrated reductions in basal, substance P-stimulated (10(-8) M) and A23187-stimulated (10(-7) M) cGMP accumulation of 50 +/- 7%, 66 +/- 6% and 78 +/- 7%. Mesenteric artery segments from 35-d-old subjects demonstrated increases in basal, substance P-stimulated, or A23187-stimulated cGMP accumulations of 114 +/- 14%, 92 +/- 8%, or 78 +/- 9%. Compared with control, I/R rings from 3-d-old subjects demonstrated reductions in substance P-induced (10(-8) M) or A23187-induced (10(-7) M) relaxations of 56 +/- 7% or 30 +/- 7%. In contrast, 35-d-old ischemia-reperfusion rings demonstrated increases in substance P- or A23187-induced relaxation of 36 +/- 8% or 98 +/- 11%. It is concluded that ischemia-reperfusion has an age-dependent effect on endothelial production of NO within in vitro postnatal mesenteric artery and that these changes mirror the effects of ischemia-reperfusion on gut vascular resistance in vivo.