Félétou, Michel

Electrical stimulation induces tetrodotoxin-insensitive relaxation of the canine coronary artery. The present study was designed to verify whether this relaxation involves the production of oxygen-derived free radicals. Isolated rings of canine coronary arteries were suspended for isometric tension recording in organ chambers filled with Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate solution. They were stimulated electrically (9 V, 3 Hz, 2 ms for 2 min) by means of two platinum electrodes during contractions evoked by various vasoactive agonists. Under control conditions, electrical stimulation caused rapid, reversible relaxations. Superoxide dismutase in association with catalase or mannitol, sodium ascorbate, dimethyl sulfoxide, and glutathione did not inhibit the relaxation caused by stimulation applied for only 2 min; neither did the removal of chloride ions from the salt solution nor the association of Cl-free solution in the presence of mannitol, superoxide dismutase, and catalase. Prolonging the electrical stimulation (9 V, 3 Hz, 2 ms) for up to 20 min produced a secondary relaxation. This second phase was inhibited by sodium ascorbate. These experiments indicate that the rapid relaxation induced by short-lasting electrical stimulation is probably not due to the generation of oxygen-derived free radicals. However, prolonged stimulation causes the production of such radicals, which then evoke irreversible inhibition of the vascular smooth muscle of the canine coronary artery.

Experiments were designed to analyze the effects of ouabain on the response of vascular smooth muscle to endothelium-derived relaxing factors released under basal conditions and on stimulation with acetylcholine or bradykinin. Bioassay rings of canine coronary artery (without endothelium) were superfused with perfusate from canine left circumflex coronary arteries with endothelium (donor arteries). During contractions of the bioassay ring evoked by prostaglandin F2 alpha, the relaxations caused by endothelium-derived relaxing factor(s), released under basal conditions or on exposure of the endothelial cells of the donor artery to maximally effective concentrations of acetylcholine, were reduced by incubation of the bioassay ring with ouabain. However, the relaxations evoked by infusion of bradykinin were not altered by incubation of the bioassay rings with ouabain. These experiments demonstrate the release of two endothelium-derived relaxing factors that can be distinguished using ouabain.