THE EFFECT OF INHIBITORS OF THE L-ARGININE NITRIC-OXIDE PATHWAY ON ENDOTOXIN-INDUCED LOSS OF VASCULAR RESPONSIVENESS IN ANESTHETIZED RATS

1 The effects on blood pressure and on pressor responses to noradrenaline (NA), of N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) and N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), inhibitors of the L-arginine/nitric oxide pathway, were investigated in anaesthetized rats receiving an infusion of bacterial endotoxin (E. coli lipopolysaccharide, LPS). 2 Infusion of LPS (10 mg kg-1 h-1) for 50 min had no effect on mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) but induced a reduction in responsiveness to noradrenaline (100 ng-1-mu-g kg-1). L-NMMA (30 mg kg-1), but not D-NMMA, caused an increase in MABP of approximately 30 mmHg and restored responses to NA. This effect was reversed by L- but not D-arginine (100 mg kg-1). 3 In LPS-treated rats, blood pressure responses to NA were only marginally increased by the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin (5 mg kg-1). L-NAME (1 mg kg-1) caused a similar increase in MABP and restored pressor responses to NA both in the presence and absence of indomethacin. 4 Co-infusion of vasopressin (100 ng kg-1, for 10 min) with LPS (10 mg kg-1 h-1) in order to reproduce the hypertensive effect of L-NMMA and L-NAME increased pressor responsiveness to 100 and 300 ng kg-1 NA but not to 1-mu-g kg-1 NA. 5 Infusion of sodium nitroprusside (30-mu-g kg-1 min-1) decreased responsiveness to NA even when the hypotension was corrected by co-infusion of vasopressin (50 ng kg-1 min-1). 6 These results demonstrate that the restoration of vascular responsiveness to NA in LPS-treated anaesthetized rats by inhibitors of the L-arginine/nitric oxide pathway is stereospecific and reversible. Furthermore, the experiments involving indomethacin suggest that although cyclo-oxygenase products of arachidonic acid may contribute to the development of LPS-induced hyporeactivity, the effect of L-NAME is unlikely to involve inhibition of the cyclo-oxygenase pathway. Comparison of NA responsiveness during vasopressin and L-NMMA/L-NAME-induced hypertension shows that increasing the blood pressure may modify LPS-induced hyporeactivity, but cannot account for the complete restoration of responses to NA by L-NMMA and L-NAME. These observations suggest that activation of nitric oxide formation from L-arginine makes a direct contribution to the production of vascular hyporeactivity by LPS in vivo.