ABSTRACT
Functional and structural aspects of the vascular endothelium were studied in major blood vessels from two distantly related species, the Atlantic salmon (S. salar) and the cod (G. morhua). The ventral aorta (VA) of both teleosts and the dorsal aorta (DA) and the coeliaco mesenteric artery (CMA) of the cod and the salmon respectively were examined for endothelium dependent and independent responses to acetylcholine (ACh), adrenaline (A) and endothelin-1 (ET-1). In the salmon, endothelial probing resulted in reduced contractile responses to high K+ in both VA and CMA while the responses to ACh and A were reduced only in CMA. Indomethacin, but not L-NMMA, enhanced vasoconstrictions to high K+, ACh and A in the unprobed CMA. In the cod vessels the endothelial probing caused reduced contractile responses to the two effective vasoconstrictors in both vessels, to high K+ and A in VA and to high K+ and ET-1 in DA. Both indomethacin and L-NMMA enhanced contractile tension to A in VA, while indomethacin, but not L-NMMA, enhanced the constrictions by high K+ in VA and by ET-1 in DA. These experiments have revealed heterogeneous patterns of endothelial function in blood vessels of two teleosts, reflecting differences in endothelial morphology and in production of potent endothelial derived contracting factors as well as prostanoic and non-prostanoic endothelium-derived dilating factors.
Subject(s)
Aorta/physiology , Endothelium, Vascular/physiology , Fishes/physiology , Mesenteric Arteries/physiology , Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/physiology , Acetylcholine/pharmacology , Animals , Aorta/cytology , Aorta/drug effects , Arginine/analogs & derivatives , Arginine/pharmacology , Endothelins/pharmacology , Epinephrine/pharmacology , In Vitro Techniques , Indomethacin/pharmacology , Mesenteric Arteries/cytology , Mesenteric Arteries/drug effects , Muscle Contraction/drug effects , Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/cytology , Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/drug effects , Nitric Oxide/antagonists & inhibitors , Potassium/pharmacology , Salmon , Species Specificity , Vasoconstriction/drug effects , Vasodilation/drug effects , omega-N-MethylarginineABSTRACT
In order to elucidate the role of the atrial hormone in the teleost circulation, the vascular effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) have been compared in major blood vessels of the cod (Gadus morhua) and of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The relaxing effects of ANP from eel (eANP) have been examined in ventral aorta (VA) versus dorsal aorta (DA) in the cod and in VA versus the coeliaco mesenteric artery (CMA), a major branch of DA, in the salmon. The vessels were precontracted by acetylcholine (ACh) and adrenaline (A) and by the mammalian endothelium-derived vasoconstrictor peptide endothelin-1 (ET-1). The role of endothelial integrity for these responses has been assessed in vessels either mechanically probed or chemically impaired by indomethacin or the L-arginine analogue, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA). Adrenaline and noradrenaline (NA) failed to contract the salmon VA. In the salmon vessels, eANP was without relaxing effects in ACh-contracted VA, while completely relaxing CMA when precontracted with ACh. The eANP was also a relaxant of A-contracted CMA and of ET-1-contracted VA. The cod vessels, which were insensitive to ACh were markedly relaxed by eANP when precontracted with either A (VA) or ET-1 (DA). In DA also the resting tension was reversed, an effect of eANP that was highly potentiated in mechanical probed vessels. Otherwise the relaxing effects of eANP in these vessels were seemingly independent of endothelial factors. In conclusion ANP is not a general relaxant of the precontracted VA which in teleosts is the first possible target vessel for the myocardial release of this hormone. On the arterial side ANP serves as a relaxant both in the salmon and the cod vessels, indicating that myocardial release of ANP in teleosts may have an important role in regulation of blood flow via diverse, species-specific effects on major blood vessels on both sides of the gills.
