Contractile and relaxant properties of rat-isolated pulmonary veins related to localization and histology.

The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro vasomotor properties of rat extra-and intralobar pulmonary veins (PVs) related to their localization and to assess the modulatory role of endothelium on these properties. Segments from PVs were mounted in small vessel myograph and stretched at various diameters (D-10, D-20, D-30) corresponding to intraluminal pressures of 10, 20 or 30 mmHg. At D-10 or D-20, contractile responses to phenylephrine, U46619 and angiotensin II of distal intralobar part of PVs were smaller compared with those of proximal extralobar part, but no longer different when distal part was stretched at D-30. When submitted to an NO donor, sodium nitroprusside, distal part of PV relaxed more strongly when stretched at D-30 compared with D-10. Acetylcholine and bradykinin were devoid of relaxing effect on distal parts stretched at D-10, but in contrast to acetylcholine, bradykinin slightly relaxed preparations stretched at D-30. Isoprenaline strongly relaxed PVs (similar to 80% of initial precontraction), with the distal part exhibiting a higher sensitivity to the agonist compared with the proximal part. This relaxation was also observed with salbutamol and suppressed with ICI 118551, which is in favour of the involvement of beta(2)-adrenoceptors in this effect. Preincubation of the preparations with N-G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (10(-4) M) and indomethacin (10(-5) M) did not modify the contractile responses to U46619, nor the relaxing response to isoprenaline, which support that endothelium does not appear to play a significant modulatory role in these responses. Histological and electron microscopical examinations of proximal and distal sections of the same vein show that the layers of smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes were thicker in the proximal compared with the distal part. This study shows that, because of morphological heterogeneity of the PVs, the site of dissection and the initial condition of tension can play a significant role upon the sensitivity and the magnitude of the responses to both contractile and relaxing agonists.