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-induced hypertension in pregnant rats
Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Center for Excellence in Cardiovascular-Renal Research, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi 39216-4505
Placental ischemia during
pregnancy is thought to release cytokines such as tumor necrosis
factor-
(TNF-
), which may contribute to the increased vascular
resistance associated with pregnancy-induced hypertension. We have
reported that a chronic twofold elevation in plasma TNF-
increases
blood pressure in pregnant but not in virgin rats; however, the
vascular mechanisms are unclear. We tested the hypothesis that
increasing plasma TNF-
during pregnancy impairs
endothelium-dependent vascular relaxation and enhances vascular
reactivity. Active stress was measured in aortic strips of virgin and
late-pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats untreated or infused with TNF-
(200 ng · kg
1 · day
1 for 5 days) to increase plasma level twofold. Phenylephrine (Phe) increased
active stress to a maximum of 4.2 ± 0.4 × 103
and 9.9 ± 0.7 × 103 N/m2 in control
pregnant and TNF-
-infused pregnant rats, respectively. Removal of
the endothelium enhanced Phe-induced stress in control but not in
TNF-
-infused pregnant rats. In endothelium-intact strips, ACh caused
greater relaxation of Phe contraction in control than in
TNF-
-infused pregnant rats. Basal and ACh-induced nitrite/nitrate production was less in TNF-
-infused than in control pregnant rats.
Pretreatment of vascular strips with 100 µM
NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, to
inhibit nitric oxide (NO) synthase, or 1 µM
1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-]quinoxalin-1-one, to
inhibit cGMP production in smooth muscle, inhibited ACh-induced
relaxation and enhanced Phe-induced stress in control but not in
TNF-
-infused pregnant rats. Phe contraction and ACh relaxation were
not significantly different between control and TNF-
-infused virgin
rats. Thus an endothelium-dependent NO-cGMP-mediated vascular
relaxation pathway is inhibited in late-pregnant rats infused with
TNF-
. The results support a role for TNF-
as one possible
mediator of the increased vascular resistance associated with
pregnancy-induced hypertension.
nitric oxide; cytokines; pregnancy
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