Effect of L-arginine on the relaxation caused by sodium nitroprusside on isolated rat renal artery

Abstract

In the present study we investigated the mechanism of nitric oxide induced relaxation of renal arteries, with or without endothelium, taken from normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rats. With this purpose in mind, the effects of the nitric oxide donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), with and without L-arg in the medium, on isolated rat renal artery relaxation were studied. Relaxing effect of SNP was higher in normotensive (10(-5) M of SNP caused 220% of relaxation in the cases with endothelium and 240% without endothelium), in comparison with SH rats (100% of relaxation with endothelium and 150% without). L-arg antagonized the relaxing effect of SNP in the examined renal arteries, more in normotensive (100-160% with endothelium and 110-195% without) than in hypertensive ones (0-10% with endothelium and 35-75% without) at SNP concentrations 10(-7) - 10(-5) M, respectively (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.001). L-arg did not significantly change relaxing effect of SNP in the isolated renal arteries with endothelium taken from SH rats, which show that L-arg, by modifying the chemical versatility of NO into redox active forms -nitrosonium (NO+) and -nitroxyl (NO-), produces different relaxing effects in normotensive and hypertensive isolated arteries of rats, with or without endothelium, potentiating the role of nitroxyl induced relaxation in SH rats.