prostaglandin-h2 and Chronic-Disease

The goal of this study was to determine the role of prostaglandin H2-thromboxane A2 (PGH2-TxA2) in altered responses of cerebral arterioles during chronic hypertension. Diameter of pial arterioles was measured during suffusion with ADP, acetylcholine, and nitroglycerin using intravital microscopy in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) normotensive rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) (8-10 mo old). ADP (100 microM) increased pial arteriolar diameter by 21 +/- 3% (means +/- SE) in WKY and only by 7 +/- 3% in SHR. Acetylcholine (10 microM) increased diameter 10 +/- 2% in WKY and, in contrast, reduced diameter 7 +/- 3% in SHR. Nitroglycerin produced similar vasodilatation in WKY and SHR. We then examined whether impaired dilatation of cerebral arterioles in SHR to ADP and acetylcholine may be related to activation of the PGH2-TxA2 receptor. SQ 29548, a specific PGH2-TxA2 receptor antagonist, restored vasodilatation in response to ADP in SHR toward that observed in WKY and reversed vasoconstriction to vasodilatation in response to acetylcholine in SHR. SQ 29548 did not alter responses in WKY. Thus these findings suggest that impaired responses of cerebral arterioles to ADP and acetylcholine during chronic hypertension may be related to the activation of the PGH2-TxA2 receptor.

Topics: Acetylcholine; Adenosine Diphosphate; Animals; Arterioles; Brain; Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic; Chronic Disease; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; Hydrazines; Hypertension; Imidazoles; Male; Nitroglycerin; Prostaglandin Endoperoxides, Synthetic; Prostaglandin H2; Prostaglandins H; Rats; Rats, Inbred SHR; Rats, Inbred WKY; Thromboxane A2; Vasodilator Agents

Chronic pulmonary hypertension can develop in diseases associated with acute or repeated inflammation in the lungs, e.g., adult respiratory distress syndrome, chronic bronchitis. Inflammation has also been associated with some animal models of chronic pulmonary hypertension. We have previously shown that 12 days of continuous air embolization into sheep results in the functional and structural changes of chronic pulmonary hypertension. To determine whether granulocytes contribute to these changes, five sheep were granulocyte-depleted with hydroxyurea immediately before and during air embolization (AIR-PMN) and were compared with sheep receiving air embolization (AIR only). Air embolization was discontinued briefly every 4 days for monitoring of pulmonary vascular pressures and assessment of pulmonary vasoreactivity to a bolus injection of PGH2-A. After 12 days of air embolization, the lungs were removed for structural studies. AIR-PMN sheep did not develop the sustained increase in pulmonary artery pressure seen in the AIR sheep (Day 12, AIR-PMN = 20 +/- 3 cm H2O; AIR = 29 +/- 2; mean +/- SE). Similarly, the increased pulmonary pressor response to PGH2-A seen in AIR sheep was not found in the AIR-PMN group. Structural studies of the barium-injected lungs of AIR-PMN sheep revealed a twofold increase in medial thickness of normally muscular arteries and a significant increase in the percent of muscular intraacinar arteries (similar to findings in lungs from AIR sheep). The number of barium-filled arteries was increased in AIR-PMN sheep when compared with that in AIR sheep, but the number was still less than in the control sheep. We conclude that granulocytes may contribute to the functional changes of chronic pulmonary hypertension after continuous air embolization in sheep, but they do not play a role in structural changes involving pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells and their precursors. The present data also suggest that the reduction in peripheral arterial filling is the structural alteration that contributes most to the sustained rise in pulmonary artery pressure. The data further suggest that pulmonary hypertension after air embolization may have a vasoconstrictive component that is granulocyte-dependent.

Topics: Animals; Chronic Disease; Embolism, Air; Granulocytes; Hydroxyurea; Hypertension, Pulmonary; Lung; Lymph; Prostaglandin Endoperoxides, Synthetic; Prostaglandin H2; Prostaglandins H; Pulmonary Artery; Sheep; Sheep Diseases; Time Factors; Vasoconstriction

Macrophages isolated from liver granulomas of mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni for 8 or 20 wk synthesize predominantly thromboxane A2 with smaller amounts of the PGE2 and PGI2. There is no physiologic production of leukotrienes, as determined by RIA and HPLC. Thromboxane A2 is the predominant arachidonic acid metabolite whether the cells are stimulated by a phagocytic stimuli such as zymosan or the exogenous substrates arachidonic acid and PGH2. These data indicate that the predominant arachidonate enzymatic activity in these cells is thromboxane synthase.

Topics: 12-Hydroxy-5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic Acid; Acute Disease; Animals; Arachidonic Acid; Arachidonic Acids; Chronic Disease; Granuloma; Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acids; Liver Diseases; Macrophage Activation; Macrophages; Mice; Prostaglandin Endoperoxides, Synthetic; Prostaglandin H2; Prostaglandins H; Schistosomiasis mansoni; SRS-A; Thromboxane A2; Thromboxane-A Synthase