AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 272, Issue 3 975-R981, Copyright © 1997 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

The roles of cGMP and cAMP in active thermoregulatory vasodilation

D. M. Farrell and V. S. Bishop
Department of Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 78284-7756, USA.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that active thermoregulatory vasodilation (AVD) is the result of a neurotransmitter-induced adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) pathway interacting with a nitric oxide-induced guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) pathway. Rabbits were instrumented for measurement of arterial pressure and ear blood flow (EBF) and the infusion of drugs. In four groups of conscious animals, whole-body heating increased EBF from 0.5 +/- 0.3 to 8.3 +/- 1.3 kHz. In group 1 (n = 6), N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, 10-40 mg) reduced EBF from 7.1 +/- 0.9 to 1.9 +/- 0.5 kHz. Subsequent infusion of 8-bromo-cGMP (a cGMP analog, 5-10 mg) returned EBF to 6.2 +/- 0.7 kHz. In group 2 (n = 3), (R)-p-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphothioate (a cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor, 10 mg) reduced EBF to 1.6 +/- 0.4 kHz. In group 3 (n = 6), nerve blockade of the ear (procaine, 20 mg/ml, 1.5 ml) reduced EBF from 8.6 +/- 1.3 to 1.6 +/- 0.3 kHz. Subsequent infusion of 8-bromo-cAMP (a cAMP analog, 5-10 mg) returned EBF to 8.3 +/- 2.0 kHz. In group 4 (n = 6), the infusion of L-NAME caused EBF to fall from 9.0 +/- 1.1 to 1.2 +/- 0.3 kHz. Infusion of the cAMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor Ro 20-1724 (0.2-0.5 mg) raised EBF to 5.5 +/- 0.7 kHz. These results suggest that cGMP plays a permissive role in AVD and indicate that the transmitter acts through cAMP.

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