Endothelin-mediated vasoconstriction in postischemic newborn intestine.

We previously suggested that the profound, sustained vasoconstriction noted in 3-day-old swine intestine after a moderate episode of ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) reflects the unmasking of underlying constrictor tone consequent to a loss of endothelium-derived nitric oxide (NO). In this study, we sought to determine whether endothelin-1 (ET-1) was the unmasked constrictor and whether selective loss of endothelial ET(B) receptors, which mediate NO-based vasodilation, participated in the hemodynamic consequences of I/R in newborn intestine. Studies were performed in innervated, autoperfused intestinal loops in 3- and 35-day-old swine. Selective blockade of ET(A) receptors with BQ-610 had no effect on hemodynamics under control conditions; however, when administered before and during I/R, BQ-610 significantly attenuated the post-I/R vasoconstriction and reduction in arteriovenous O(2) difference in the younger group. In 3-day-old intestine, reduction of intestinal O(2) uptake to a level similar to that noted after I/R by lowering tissue temperature had no effect on the response to BQ-610 or ET-1, indicating that the change in response to BQ-610 noted after I/R was not simply consequent to the reduction in tissue O(2) demand. In studies in mesenteric artery rings suspended in myographs, we observed a leftward shift in the dose-response curve for ET-1 after selective blockade of ET(B) receptors with BQ-788 in 3- but not 35-day-old swine. Rings exposed to I/R in vivo behaved in a manner similar to control rings treated with BQ-788 or endothelium-denuded non-I/R rings.