(Circulation. 2000;101:2942.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Basic Science Reports |
From the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle.
Correspondence to Eric O. Feigl, MD, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Box 357290, Seattle, WA 98195-7290.
| Abstract |
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Methods and ResultsExperiments were performed in chronically
instrumented dogs at rest and during graded treadmill exercise before
and during inhibition of NO synthesis with
N
-nitro-L-arginine
(L-NNA, 35 mg/kg IV). Before inhibition of NO synthesis,
myocardial oxygen consumption increased
3.7-fold, and
coronary blood flow increased
3.2-fold from rest to the
highest level of exercise, and this was not changed by NO synthesis
inhibition. Coronary venous oxygen tension was modestly reduced
by L-NNA at all levels of myocardial oxygen consumption. However, the
slope of the relationship between myocardial oxygen consumption and
coronary venous oxygen tension was not altered by L-NNA.
Inhibition of NO synthesis did not increase coronary venous
plasma or estimated interstitial adenosine
concentration. During exercise, estimated interstitial
adenosine remained well below the threshold concentration
necessary for coronary vasodilation before or after L-NNA.
ConclusionsNO causes a modest coronary vasodilation at rest and during exercise but does not act as a local metabolic vasodilator. Adenosine does not mediate a compensatory local metabolic coronary vasodilation when NO synthesis is inhibited.
Key Words: nitric oxide adenosine coronary disease exercise
| Introduction |
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Adenosine receptor blockade has also been used in combination with NO synthesis inhibition in this context. A decrease in coronary blood flow after adenosine receptor blockade was interpreted as a compensatory adenosine coronary vasodilation after NO synthesis inhibition.15 18 However, this was not observed in all studies.6 14 17
The present study was designed to examine the role of
adenosine in local metabolic control of
coronary blood flow when NO synthesis is inhibited. Experiments
were performed in chronically instrumented dogs at rest and during
graded treadmill exercise with and without inhibition of NO synthesis
with
N
-nitro-L-arginine
(L-NNA). Interstitial adenosine concentration was
estimated from arterial and coronary venous
measurements by using a previously described, axially distributed,
mathematical model.19 20 The present results
indicate that NO contributes modestly to matching coronary
blood flow with myocardial oxygen consumption at rest and during
exercise but that adenosine does not increase to mediate
coronary vasodilation when NO synthesis is inhibited.
| Methods |
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At the time of the experiment, a catheter-tip pressure transducer (Millar Instruments) was inserted into the aortic catheter to measure blood pressure.21 Coronary blood flow was measured with an ultrasonic flow transducer (Transonics) and normalized per gram of perfused myocardium.21 Blood gas values were determined with an Instrumentation Laboratories 1306 analyzer. Oxygen content was determined by using the fuel-cell method (Total O2X, Hospex), and lactate concentration was determined with a YSI model 1500 lactate analyzer.
Plasma Adenosine Measurement and Estimation of Cardiac
Interstitial Adenosine Concentration
Adenosine measurements were made as previously
described.21 Briefly, blood samples were immediately mixed
with an ice-cold enzymatic stop solution. After immediate
centrifugation, the supernatant was deproteinated and
purified on C-18 Sep-Pak cartridges. Each sample was divided into 2
aliquots, and adenosine deaminase (0.1 U, Boehringer)
was added to 1 of the aliquots, which was used as a paired blank for
high-performance liquid chromatography (Hewlett
Packard 1100).
Cardiac interstitial adenosine concentration was estimated by use of a 4-region (plasma, endothelial cell, interstitial space, and parenchymal cell) axially distributed mathematical model as previously described.19 20 22
Exercise Protocol
The hypothesis that adenosine increases to mediate
coronary vasodilation when NO synthesis is inhibited was
examined at rest and during graded treadmill exercise with 2
treatments: (1) control vehicle (n=10) and (2) L-NNA (n=10). Each
animal served as its own control, and the animals were allowed at least
2 days of recovery between experiments. The dose of L-NNA (35 mg/kg IV)
used in this investigation was previously found to reduce vasodilation
to acetylcholine by >60% in conscious dogs.2 9 11 The
L-NNA was dissolved in 120 mL of 0.9% saline and was infused
intravenously over 10 minutes
Statistical Analyses
Data are presented as mean±SEM. Multiple linear
regression was used to compare slopes for the 2 treatments when a
response variable was plotted versus myocardial oxygen consumption
(SAS). ANCOVA was used to adjust a response variable for linear
dependence on myocardial oxygen consumption after testing for parallel
regression lines (SAS). The Table
presents means by exercise level and does not include probability
values because the probability values pertain to the overall treatment
effects, as shown in the figures.
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| Results |
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3.7-fold, and coronary blood flow increased
3.2-fold from rest to the highest level of exercise (Figure 1A
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The relationship between myocardial oxygen consumption and
coronary venous oxygen tension is shown in Figure 2
. The slope of the coronary
venous oxygen tension versus myocardial oxygen consumption was not
significantly altered by L-NNA, demonstrating that NO is not required
for exercise-induced coronary vasodilation. However, the
average coronary venous oxygen tension was decreased by L-NNA
(P=0.004), indicating that NO contributes to
coronary vasodilation at rest and during exercise.
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The arterial plasma adenosine concentration was not
significantly altered by increased myocardial oxygen consumption or by
L-NNA (Figure 3A
). During control and
L-NNA treatment, coronary venous plasma adenosine and
estimated interstitial adenosine concentrations
were changed little during exercise (Figures 3B
and 4
). The slopes of these relationships
were not significantly different between control and L-NNA treatment,
and the common slope did not differ significantly from zero. The
estimated interstitial adenosine concentration
remained well below the 117 nmol/L threshold concentration necessary
for coronary vasodilation.20 These findings
demonstrate that adenosine does not compensate for the loss of
vasodilation when NO synthesis is inhibited.
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| Discussion |
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3.7-fold during
exercise. Furthermore, the estimated interstitial
adenosine concentration remained well below the threshold
concentration (117 nmol/L) necessary for coronary
vasodilation.20 Therefore, adenosine does not
increase to mediate increases in coronary blood flow when NO
synthesis is inhibited.
NO and Coronary Blood Flow Regulation
Blockade of NO synthesis did not attenuate exercise
coronary vasodilation (Figure 1A
) or alter the slope of
the relationship between coronary venous oxygen tension and
myocardial oxygen consumption (Figure 2
). These findings are
consistent with previous studies using either
systemic2 9 11 or intracoronary blockade of NO
synthesis1 5 and indicate that NO is not required for
exercise coronary vasodilation but does contribute to the
control of coronary blood flow at rest and during exercise.
Stamler et al23 recently proposed that nitrosohemoglobin may serve as an NO donor and potentially mediate increases in coronary blood flow. It is unlikely that NO released from nitrosohemoglobin played a significant role in coronary flow regulation in the present study because Bernstein et al2 found that NO production in the coronary circulation was significantly impaired by the same dose of L-NNA used in the present study. However, the exact role of nitrosohemoglobin in coronary blood flow control merits further research.
Studies have also shown that NO may have an inhibitory effect on tissue oxygen consumption.2 24 Bernstein et al2 reported that systemic administration of L-NNA did not significantly alter myocardial oxygen consumption relative to control but did increase myocardial oxygen consumption at a given level of cardiac work. The experimental design of the present study does not test the hypothesis of Bernstein et al.
Effect of NO on Epicardial Coronary Diameter
NO has been shown to contribute to epicardial coronary
dilation at rest in dogs25 26 27 28 29 and
humans30 31 and during increases in myocardial oxygen
consumption in dogs3 11 13 32 and
humans.12 33 This effect of NO is demonstrated by a
reduction in epicardial coronary diameter when NO synthesis is
inhibited, but with little or no change in coronary blood flow.
Jones et al34 reported that inhibition of NO synthesis not
only resulted in epicardial coronary constriction but also a
compensatory arteriolar coronary dilation.
The findings of Bernstein et al2 suggest that exercise-induced epicardial coronary dilation is mediated by an increase in cardiac NO production. Increased NO production when myocardial oxygen consumption is elevated is probably due to the increases in shear stress that result from the higher coronary flow rates. This is supported by the findings of Van Bibber et al,35 who found that inhibition of NO synthesis attenuated norepinephrine-induced coronary vasodilation when coronary pressure was held constant but did not affect the coronary vasodilation to norepinephrine when coronary blood flow was held constant.
Role of Adenosine After Inhibition of NO Synthesis
There are multiple mechanisms responsible for local
metabolic control of coronary blood
flow.6 There is also the suggestion that when one
mechanism is inhibited, another may increase in
compensation.6 15 18 The present study was
specifically designed to test whether adenosine increases to
mediate coronary vasodilation when NO synthesis is inhibited
during exercise. Neither coronary venous plasma nor estimated
interstitial adenosine concentrations were altered
when NO synthesis was inhibited at rest or when oxygen consumption was
increased
3.7-fold during exercise (Figures 3B
and 4
).
Furthermore, the estimated interstitial adenosine
concentration remained well below the 117 nmol/L threshold value
necessary for coronary vasodilation.20 The
present results indicate that adenosine does not compensate
for the loss of vasodilation by mediating the local
metabolic control of coronary blood flow when NO
synthesis is inhibited. However, the possibility of compensation by
other vasoregulatory agents is not ruled out.
The present findings are also consistent with an earlier study by Tune et al21 in that coronary venous adenosine concentration was changed little with exercise and the estimated interstitial adenosine concentration remained well below the threshold for coronary vasodilation. These results indicate that adenosine is not responsible for local metabolic control of coronary blood flow.
The methods used in the present investigation are capable of detecting the elevations in coronary venous adenosine concentration that occur during hypoxia,36 coronary autoregulation,37 intracoronary norepinephrine infusion,38 and the release of endogenous adenosine by inhibiting adenosine kinase and adenosine deaminase.20 Therefore, it is very likely that the present methods are adequate for detecting significant changes in coronary venous plasma adenosine concentration during exercise. Furthermore, the studies cited above demonstrate that increases in cardiac interstitial adenosine concentration are reflected in coronary venous adenosine concentration despite avid uptake of adenosine by coronary vascular endothelium.19 39
In contrast to the present study, Minamino et al17
reported that coronary venous adenosine concentration
increased with time during continuous intracoronary infusion of
the NO synthesis inhibitor
N
-nitro-L-arginine
methyl ester (L-NAME) in open-chest dogs. In the Minamino study,
coronary blood flow was unaltered by L-NAME infusion and was
also unchanged when the adenosine receptor
antagonist 8-sulfophenyltheophylline was combined with
L-NAME, which argues against a compensatory adenosine
vasodilation.
Matsunaga et al15 found that the rate of adenosine
release was increased when myocardial oxygen consumption was increased
20% by atrial pacing in anesthetized dogs pretreated with
the NO synthesis inhibitor L-NAME. Tayama et
al18 observed that chronic 4-week administration of
dietary L-NAME resulted in an increase in cardiac adenosine
release in a terminal open-chest canine experiment. The release rate is
calculated by multiplying coronary flow by the difference in
arterial and coronary venous adenosine
concentration. A major problem with release rates is that an increase
in coronary blood flow or a decrease in arterial
adenosine concentration can result in an increase in
adenosine release with no change in coronary venous
adenosine concentration. The concentration of adenosine
in the coronary venous plasma has been shown to be a sensitive
indicator of cardiac interstitial adenosine
levels.19 20 Therefore, reporting only the release rate of
adenosine offers little quantitative information on the
relationship between interstitial adenosine
concentration and coronary blood flow.
Adenosine receptor blockade has also been used in combination with NO synthesis inhibition to determine whether adenosine mediates local metabolic coronary vasodilation when NO synthesis is inhibited. In 3 studies, the results with adenosine receptor blockade after prior inhibition of NO synthesis did not indicate compensation by adenosine.6 14 17 In 2 studies, the results were interpreted to mean that adenosine receptor blockade demonstrated a role for adenosine after NO synthesis inhibition.15 18 However, a replotting of the data from all 5 of these studies is consistent in that the relation between coronary blood flow and myocardial oxygen consumption is not changed by adenosine blockade after prior NO synthesis inhibition.
Physiological Role of NO in the Coronary
Circulation
In summary, blockade of NO synthesis decreases coronary
venous oxygen tension but does not steepen the relationship between
coronary venous oxygen tension and myocardial oxygen
consumption. Therefore, NO does not act as a local
metabolic vasodilator in the usual sense. Furthermore, when
NO synthesis is inhibited, adenosine levels do not increase in
compensation. However, NO has meaningful
physiological effects within the coronary
vascular tree, notably, the upstream dilation of epicardial
coronary arteries, which prevents excessive shear stress on the
endothelium when flow is increased by downstream
vasodilation.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received August 18, 1999; revision received January 21, 2000; accepted January 31, 2000.
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