ABSTRACT
We examined some of the mechanisms by which the aspirin metabolite and the naturally occurring metabolite gentisic acid induced relaxation of the guinea pig trachea in vitro. In preparations with or without epithelium and contracted by histamine, gentisic acid caused concentration-dependent and reproducible relaxation, with mean EC50 values of 18 æM and Emax of 100 percent (N = 10) or 20 æM and Emax of 92 percent (N = 10), respectively. The relaxation caused by gentisic acid was of slow onset in comparison to that caused by norepinephrine, theophylline or vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). The relative rank order of potency was: salbutamol 7.9 > VIP 7.0 > gentisic acid 4.7 > theophylline 3.7. Gentisic acid-induced relaxation was markedly reduced (24 + or - 7.0, 43 + or - 3.9 and 78 + or - 5.6 percent) in preparations with elevated potassium concentration in the medium (20, 40 or 80 mM, respectively). Tetraethylammonium (100 æM), a nonselective blocker of the potassium channels, partially inhibited the relaxation response to gentisic acid, while 4-AP (10 æM), a blocker of the voltage potassium channel, inhibited gentisic acid-induced relaxation by 41 + or - 12 percent. Glibenclamide (1 or 3 æM), at a concentration which markedly inhibited the relaxation induced by the opener of ATP-sensitive K+ channels, levcromakalim, had no effect on the relaxation induced by gentisic acid. Charybdotoxin (0.1 or 0.3 æM), a selective blocker of the large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels, caused rightward shifts (6- and 7-fold) of the gentisic acid concentration-relaxation curve. L-N G-nitroarginine (100 æM), a NO synthase inhibitor, had no effect on the relaxant effect of gentisic acid, and caused a slight displacement to the right in the relaxant effect of the gentisic acid curve at 300 æM, while methylene blue (10 or 30 æM) or ODQ (1 æM), the inhibitors of soluble guanylate cyclase, all failed to affect gentisic acid-induced relaxation. D-P-Cl-Phe6,Leu17[VIP] (0.1 æM), a VIP receptor antagonist, significantly inhibited (37 + or - 7 percent) relaxation induced by gentisic acid, whereas CGRP (8-37) (0.1 æM), a CGRP antagonist, only slightly enhanced the action of gentisic acid.