The effects of arachidonate and its major metabolites were examined in vascular beds perfused via the femoral and mesenteric arteries of chloralose-anaesthetised dogs. Close intra-arterial injection of prostacyclin (PGI 2, 0.02–2 μg), PGE 2 (0.05–1 μg) and their precursors, the endoperoxide PGH 2 (0.5–2 μg) and sodium arachidonate (100–550 μg), all induced vasodilatation. Sodium linoleate (500 μg) was inactive. Prostacyclin was equally active in both vascular beds, but PGE 2 was more potent in the femoral and less so in the mesenteric bed. PGH 2 was of similar potency to prostacyclin in both beds, but 6-oxo-PGF 1α (10–100 μg) was inactive. Thromboxane A 2 (TXA 2, 1–2 μg) was a potent vasoconstrictor of the mesenteric bed, but not the femoral bed, but not the femoral bed, although the endoperoxide analogue U46619 was vasoconstrictor in both vasculatures. Fatty acid hydroperoxides did not specifically modify the vasodilator effects of PGH 2 or arachidonate, presumably because these inhibitors are rapidly reduced in vivo. Indomethacin and meclofenamate potentiated vasodilatation induced by prostacyclin or endoperoxide, but reduced or abolished that caused by arachidonate. The rise in perfusion pressure induced by TXA 2 was potentiated and prolonged by indomethacin. Inhibition of synthesis of endogenous prostacyclin, by exacerbating the vasoconstrictor action of TXA 2, may have contributed to this effect.
Read full abstract