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Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 293: R894-R900, 2007. First published May 30, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00080.2007
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COMPARATIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY PHYSIOLOGY

Vascular bed-specific endothelium-dependent vasomomotor relaxation in the hagfish, Myxine glutinosa

Jun Feng,1,2,* Kiichiro Yano,1,3,* Rita Monahan-Earley,1,4 Ellen S. Morgan,1,4 Ann M. Dvorak,1,4 Frank W. Sellke,1,2 and William C. Aird1,3,5

1The Center for Vascular Biology Research, 2Department of Surgery, 3Division of Molecular and Vascular Medicine, and 4Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts; and 5Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, Maine

Submitted 2 February 2007 ; accepted in final form 23 May 2007

The last common ancestor of hagfish and gnathostomes was also the last common ancestor of all extant vertebrates that lived some time more than 500 million years ago. Features that are shared between hagfish and gnathostomes can be inferred to have already been present in this ancestral vertebrate. We recently reported that hagfish endothelium displays phenotypic heterogeneity in ultrastructure, lectin binding, and mechanisms of leukocyte adhesion. Thus, phenotypic cell heterogeneity evolved as an early feature of the endothelium. In the present study, we wanted to extend these observations by determining whether hagfish endothelium plays a role in mediating vasomotor tone. Response of mesenteric and skeletal muscle arteries to a variety of mediators was assayed by videomicroscopy. Phenylephrine and acetylcholine induced vasoconstriction of mesenteric and skeletal muscle arteries. Bradykinin (BK) and ADP promoted vasorelaxation in precontracted mesenteric arteries but not those from skeletal muscle. BK- and ADP-mediated vasorelaxation of the mesenteric artery was abrogated by mechanical denudation of the endothelium but was unaffected by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester. Indomethacin significantly inhibited the vasodilatory response to ADP but not BK. The nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside resulted in endothelium-independent relaxation of both mesenteric and skeletal muscle arteries. Together, these data suggest that site-specific endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation is an evolutionarily conserved property of this cell lineage.

endothelium; hagfish; vasomotor tone


Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: W. C. Aird, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Molecular and Vascular Medicine; RW-663, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston MA 02215, (e-mail: waird{at}bidmc.harvard.edu)






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