Impaired Dilator Reactivity of Middle Cerebral Arteries in Goto‐Kakizaki Rats with Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a highly prevalent disease and is associated with the development of cerebrovascular disease. The objective of the study was to determine whether alterations to the regulation of cerebral vascular tone exist in a non‐obese model of T2DM and to determine the mechanistic contributors to changes in this response. Middle cerebral arteries (MCA) from 17–18‐wk‐old male Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and Goto‐Kakizaki (GK) were isolated and cannulated with glass micropipettes. Vascular reactivity was assessed in response to challenge with acetylcholine (ACh), sodium nitroprusside (SNP), reductions in Po2, 5‐HT, and increased intraluminal pressure. Vessels were treated with the competitive nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor L‐NAME, the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin, and the cell‐permeable superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic TEMPOL to support interpretation of mechanistic contributors to changes in vessel reactivity. Similar measurements of vascular reactivity to methacholine (MCh), phenylephrine, SNP, and reductions in PO2 were measured in aortic ring preparations, along with measurements of vascular NO production and metabolites of arachidonic acid. There was an impairment of vessel dilation within the MCA and aorta of GK in response to ACh/MCh and hypoxia but not SNP. Decreased vascular NO release and ratio of PGI2/TxA2 were measured within the aorta in response to hypoxia, and increasing MCh concentration. No change was seen in the constrictor response to either 5‐HT or phenylephrine within the MCA or aorta respectively or in the myogenic activation of the MCA. Treatment with L‐NAME severely blunted the dilator reactivity of both the MCA and aorta, while TEMPOL showed mild improvements in GK, and indomethacin yielded improved dilator reactivity to MCh in GK but blunted it in WKY. These results suggest that the vasodilator reactivity of the MCA and aorta of GK in response to endothelium‐dependent dilator stimuli is impaired vs. WKY. This may be due to decreased NO bioavailability and altered arachidonic acid metabolism as a result of a pro‐oxidant pro‐inflammatory condition present in T2DM. The lack of change to the constrictor response of MCA and aorta in GK suggests a lack of structural remodeling as a result of T2DM at this age.Support or Funding InformationAmerican Heart Association and National Institutes of Health (USA); Canadian Institutes for Health Research and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.