Endothelium-derived nitric oxide-dependent response to hypoxia in piglet intrapulmonary arteries

The purpose of this study was to determine the involvement of eicosanoids and nitric oxide (NO) in the response to hypoxia in isolated intrapulmonary (third branch) arteries from 10- to 17-day-old piglets. We also compared the response to hypoxia in pulmonary arteries to pulmonary veins, mesenteric arteries and coronary arteries. Hypoxia was generated in vascular rings (under resting force or precontracted with 30 mM KCl) by switching the gas aerating the organ chambers from one composed of 21% O2-5% CO2-balance N2 (pO2 145 +/- 1.27 mm Hg) to a mixture of 5% CO2-balance N2 (pO2 33.87 +/- 0.24 mm Hg). In precontracted rings hypoxia produced a transient vasoconstriction (26 +/- 8% of the precontraction value) reaching a peak in 3-4 min, followed by a relaxation. A similar pattern of response was observed in pulmonary veins, coronary arteries and mesenteric arteries. The contractile phase was not present in endothelium-denuded arteries or after incubation with the NO synthase inhibitor L-NAME (10(-4) M) or the guanylate cyclase inhibitor methylene blue (10(-5) M). No changes in the hypoxia-induced vasoconstriction were observed after preincubation with the NO precursor L-arginine (10(-5) M), the lipoxygenase inhibitor meclofenamate (10(-5) M), the cyclooxygenase inhibitor AA 861 (10(-5) M), or the cytochrome P450 oxidase inhibitor SKF 525A (10(-5) M). These findings demonstrate that the contractile response to hypoxia in the isolated intrapulmonary porcine artery is caused by the loss of the inhibitory effects of endothelium-derived NO on the vascular tone. Eicosanoids do not appear to be involved in this response. Since the response to hypoxia in isolated rings is not specific to pulmonary vessels, any correlation between this response and hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction should be avoided.