Objective: Cysteinyl leukotrienes (cysLT) are pro-inflammatory and vasoactive products suspected to be involved in the regulation of vascular tone and blood pressure in hypertension.
Design: We investigated, in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), the involvement of cysLT in the in-vivo regulation of blood pressure and the in-vitro endothelium-dependent contraction to acetylcholine in isolated aorta.
Methods: SHR and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were orally treated for 3 weeks with either the cysLT biosynthesis inhibitor MK-886 (0.1 mg/ml) or vehicle. After mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) measurement, aortic ring preparations were removed from all groups of animals, and contractions and relaxations were monitored subsequent to stimulation with acetylcholine.
Results: MABP was higher in SHR. Chronic treatment with MK-886 did not alter MABP in either SHR or WKY. In the presence of the N-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA, 100 micromol/l), and on prostaglandin F2alpha (PGF2alpha)-induced tone, acetylcholine evoked concentration-dependent contractions in intact aortic rings from SHR only. Pretreatment with either MK-886 (10 micromol/l), the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) inhibitor AA861 (10 micromol/l), or the cysLT1 receptor antagonist MK571 (1 micromol/l) reduced (P < 0.05) acetylcholine-induced contractions in intact aortic rings from SHR only. Acetylcholine-induced contractions were weaker (P < 0.01) in SHR chronically treated with MK-886 than in SHR. In the presence of L-NA, leukotriene (LT) D4 induced greater (P < 0.05) concentration-dependent contractions in aortic rings from SHR than from WKY. MK571 abolished LTD4-evoked contractions.
Conclusion: These data suggested that 5-LO-derived products, through the activation of cysLT1 receptors, could be involved in the endothelium-dependent contraction to acetylcholine in aorta from SHR but not in the regulation of MABP in SHR.