Hyperhomocyst(e)inemia is a risk factor for arterial endothelial dysfunction in humans.
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To elucidate the underlying reason or reasons for the increased peripheral resistance in hypertension, we investigated the pressure-diameter relation--the myogenic response--of isolated, cannulated arterioles (approximately 50 microns) of cremaster muscle of 12-week-old Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and normal Wistar (NW) rats. All arterioles constricted in response to step increases in perfusion pressure from 20 to 160 mm Hg. This constriction was, however, significantly enhanced from 60 to 160 mm Hg in arterioles of SHR compared with NW or WKY rats. For example, at 80 and 140 mm Hg, respectively, the normalized diameter (expressed as a percentage of the corresponding passive diameter of arterioles of SHR) was 11.8% and 27.6% (P < .05) less compared with those of WKY rats. Endothelium removal eliminated the enhanced pressure-induced tone in SHR. Similarly, indomethacin (10(-5) mol/L, sufficient to block prostaglandin synthesis) or SQ 29,548 (10(-6) mol/L), a thromboxane A2-prostaglandin H2 receptor blocker that inhibited vasoconstriction to the thromboxane agonist U46619, attenuated the enhanced pressure-diameter curve and reversed the blunted dilation to arachidonic acid in SHR. In contrast, the thromboxane A2 synthesis inhibitor CGS 13,080 (5 x 10(-6) mol/L) did not affect the increased pressure-induced tone or the reduced dilation to arachidonic acid in SHR. Thus, the present findings suggest that in early hypertension pressure-induced arteriolar constriction is increased. This seems to be due to an enhanced production of endothelium-derived constrictor factors, primarily prostaglandin H2.
We analyzed the effects and mechanisms of aging in aortic endothelium and vascular smooth muscle of 12-week-old (adult) and 72-week-old (senescent) normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Aortas were suspended in organ chambers filled with physiological salt solution (95% O2/5% CO2; 37 degrees C), and isometric tension was measured. In WKY, endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine were diminished with aging (P < .05); in SHR, they were reduced compared with WKY (P < .05) but unchanged with aging. The thromboxane/endoperoxide receptor antagonist SQ 30741 increased relaxations only in adult SHR. Relaxations to sodium nitroprusside were slightly enhanced with age in WKY and SHR (P < .05). Endothelium-dependent contractions to acetylcholine were unmasked by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (P < .05) and prevented by SQ 30741 or endothelium removal. In WKY, contractions increased with age. In adult SHR, marked endothelium-dependent contractions occurred (P < .05 versus WKY), which diminished with age (P = NS versus senescent WKY). The thromboxane analogue U46619 elicited similar contractions in adult and senescent WKY and adult SHR, whereas responses in senescent SHR were weaker (P < .05). In WKY and SHR, contractions to norepinephrine were similar and unaltered by aging. In WKY, contractions to endothelin-1 remained unaffected by aging. Adult SHR exhibited contractions to endothelin-1 comparable to those in WKY, whereas senescent SHR contracted less (P < .05). Bosentan, a combined endothelin-A/endothelin-B receptor antagonist, inhibited endothelin-1 markedly, especially in SHR (P < .05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The objective of this study was to examine the effects of long-term antihypertensive therapy on blood pressure and vascular responses of resistance arteries during prolonged inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis. Four groups of 6-week-old Wistar-Kyoto rats were treated with either placebo as controls or N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) alone or in combination with verapamil or with trandolapril. Drugs were given orally for 6 weeks or short-term in vitro to vessels obtained from untreated rats. Endothelium-dependent and -independent relaxations as well as contractions were studied in isolated perfused mesenteric and renal arteries with an arteriograph. Kidney nitric oxide synthase activity was also evaluated. Verapamil and trandolapril prevented the increase in systolic blood pressure and the blunted acetylcholine-induced relaxations that occurred with L-NAME treatment without improving the nitric oxide synthase activity. Both antihypertensive regimens also normalized sensitivity to sodium nitroprusside, which was enhanced by L-NAME. In contrast, short-term in vitro preincubation with verapamil or trandolaprilat in the presence of L-NAME did not improve the impaired relaxations to acetylcholine. Long-term but not short-term therapy with a calcium antagonist or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor improved the blunted endothelium-dependent relaxations in nitric oxide-deficient hypertension. These findings strongly suggest that the role of other vasodilator systems, which normally do not regulate vascular tone, is enhanced with long-term but not short-term treatment with these drugs. These observations emphasize the potential importance of these treatments in the management of hypertension in which nitric oxide production is diminished.
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Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor improves the impaired hyperpolarization and relaxation to acetylcholine (ACh) via endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) in arteries of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). We tested whether the angiotensin type 1 (AT(1)) receptor antagonist also improves EDHF-mediated responses and whether the combined AT(1) receptor blockade and ACE inhibition exert any additional effects. SHR were treated with either AT(1) receptor antagonist TCV-116 (5 mg. kg(-1). d(-1)) (SHR-T), enalapril (40 mg. kg(-1). d(-1)) (SHR-E), or their combination (SHR-T&E) from 8 to 11 months of age. Age-matched, untreated SHR (SHR-C) and Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats served as controls (n=8 to 12 in each group). Three treatments lowered blood pressure comparably. EDHF-mediated hyperpolarization to ACh in mesenteric arteries in the absence or presence of norepinephrine was significantly improved in all treated SHR. In addition, the hyperpolarization in the presence of norepinephrine was significantly greater in SHR-T&E than in SHR-E (ACh 10(-5) mol/L with norepinephrine: SHR-C -7; SHR-T -19; SHR-E -15; SHR-T&E -22; WKY -14 mV). EDHF-mediated relaxation, assessed in the presence of indomethacin and N:(G)-nitro-L-arginine, was markedly improved in all treated SHR. Hyperpolarization and relaxation to levcromakalim, a direct opener of ATP-sensitive K(+)-channel, were similar in all groups. These findings suggest that AT(1) receptor antagonists are as effective as ACE inhibitors in improving EDHF-mediated responses in SHR. The beneficial effects of the combined AT(1) receptor blockade and ACE inhibition appears to be for the most part similar to those of each intervention.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Recent evidence suggests a possible role for leukocytes in angiospastic reactions of large cerebral arteries. This study examined the effect of activation of endogenous circulating leukocytes on endothelium-dependent relaxation in the middle cerebral artery in rabbits. METHODS: Leukocytes were activated by rapid injection of either 40 micrograms/kg phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, or 0.2 mg/kg N-formyl-methionyl-leucylphenylalanine into the left carotid artery. Control rabbits received an equal volume of vehicle. Concentration-dependent isometric tension responses of the left and right middle cerebral artery to the dilators acetylcholine, ADP, sodium nitroprusside, or calcium ionophore (A23187), as well as to aggregating platelets, were compared in vitro in control animals and in animals killed 10 minutes after the injection of leukocyte activators in normal and leukocyte-depleted rabbits. RESULTS: In the control animals there was no significant difference in the reactivity of the left and right middle cerebral arteries. The injection of the leukocyte activators led to enhanced contractile responses to aggregating platelets and a significant reduction in the endothelium-dependent relaxation in response to acetylcholine, ADP, and A23187 in the left middle cerebral artery (the injected side), whereas the effect of an endothelium-independent dilator sodium nitroprusside remained unchanged. In leukocyte-depleted rabbits the injection of either of the leukocyte activators used did not induce significant changes in the reactivity of the left middle cerebral artery. CONCLUSIONS: Intravascular leukocyte activation appears to induce an acute disturbance of the endothelium-dependent relaxation. Under these conditions, platelet activation might result in marked angiospastic reactions of large cerebral arteries.
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