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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 290/5/L1018    most recent 00402.2005v2 00402.2005v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Taniguchi, M. Articles by Perkins, W. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Taniguchi, M. Articles by Perkins, W. J.

Nitric oxide sensitivity in pulmonary artery and airway smooth muscle: a possible role for cGMP responsiveness

¹Departments of Anesthesiology, and Physiology and Biophysics, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota ²Department of Anesthesiology, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan; and ³Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Submitted 19 September 2005 ; accepted in final form 29 November 2005

We aimed to assess intrinsic smooth muscle mechanisms contributing to greater nitric oxide (NO) responsiveness in pulmonary vascular vs. airway smooth muscle. Porcine pulmonary artery smooth muscle (PASM) and tracheal smooth muscle (TSM) strips were used in concentration-response studies to the NO donor (Z)-1-[N-2-aminoethyl-N-(2-ammonioethyl)amino]diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate (DETA-NO). PASM consistently exhibited greater relaxation at a given DETA-NO concentration (NO responsiveness) than TSM NO responsiveness, with DETA-NO log EC₅₀ being –6.55 ± 0.11 and –5.37 ± 0.13 for PASM and TSM, respectively (P < 0.01). We determined relationships between tissue cGMP concentration ([cGMP]_i) and relaxation using the particulate guanylyl cyclase agonist atrial natriuretic peptide. Atrial natriuretic peptide resulted in nearly complete relaxation, with no detectable increase in [cGMP]_i in PASM and only 20% relaxation (10-fold increase in [cGMP]_i) in TSM, indicating that TSM is less cGMP responsive than PASM. Total cGMP-dependent protein kinase I (cGKI) mRNA expression was greater in PASM than in TSM (2.23 ± 0.36 vs. 0.93 ± 0.31 amol mRNA/µg total RNA, respectively; P < 0.01), but total cGKI protein expression was not significantly different (0.56 ± 0.07 and 0.49 ± 0.04 ng cGKI/µg protein, respectively). The phosphotransferase assay for the soluble fraction of tissue homogenates demonstrated no difference in the cGMP EC₅₀ between PASM and TSM. The maximal phosphotransferase activity indexed to the amount of total cGKI in the homogenate differed significantly between PASM and TSM (1.61 ± 0.15 and 1.04 ± pmol·min^–1·ng cGKI^–1, respectively; P < 0.05), suggesting that cGKI may be regulated differently in the two tissues. A novel intrinsic smooth muscle mechanism accounting for greater NO responsiveness in PASM vs. TSM is thus greater cGMP responsiveness from increased cGKI-specific activity in PASM.

cGMP-dependent protein kinase