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(Circulation Research. 1995;77:695-701.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

L-Arginine–Induced Conducted Signals Alter Upstream Arteriolar Responsivity to L-Arginine

Mary D.S. Frame, Ingrid H. Sarelius

From the Department of Biophysics, University of Rochester (NY).

Correspondence to Mary D.S. Frame, PhD, Department of Biophysics, University of Rochester Medical Center, 601 Elmwood Ave, Rochester, NY 14642.

Abstract Our purpose was to determine whether L-arginine was involved in vascular communication between downstream and upstream locations within a defined microvascular region. Arteriolar diameter was measured for the branches along a transverse arteriole in the superfused cremaster of anesthetized (pentobarbital sodium, 70 mg/kg IP) hamsters (N=53). The upstream branch arterioles dilated significantly to locally applied L-arginine (100 µmol/L pipette concentration) only if the downstream branches (1400 µm away) were preexposed. With exposure order downstream to upstream, diameter change was last branch, -3.8±1.5% (of baseline); third, +58.1±27%; first, +92±26% (n=5); with exposure order upstream to downstream: first branch, -0.4±3%; third, +5±11%; last, -5.6±7.5% (n=4). Thus, downstream preexposure to L-arginine altered the responsivity upstream to locally applied L-arginine. Downstream-applied L-arginine also induced a conducted vasodilation (+17.8±2.8%; n=14) 1327±166 µm upstream. This response was completely blocked by simultaneous sucrose (600 mOsm), halothane (0.0345%), or N-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA, 100 µmol/L) exposure to the feed vessel (second micropipette) midway between the downstream site of L-arginine exposure and the upstream observation site. An acetylcholine-induced conducted vasodilation (+18.1±2.6%, n=8) was also completely blocked by sucrose, halothane, or L-NNA. The change in responsivity upstream to locally applied L-arginine was not seen in the absence of a conducted vasodilation or when the conducted signal pathway was blocked after the conducted vasodilation was observed, and it could be triggered by a conducted response to acetylcholine as well as to L-arginine. Thus, the change in local responsivity upstream requires an ongoing conducted signal from downstream. Conducted signals likely play a dynamic role in the regulation of vascular responsivity within a defined microvascular region.

Key Words: conducted response • gap junction • vascular communication • flow regulation

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