Pharmacological differentiation of epithelium-derived relaxing factor from nitric oxide.

We examined the possibility that nitric oxide is one of the epithelium-derived relaxing factors in guinea pig airways. First we studied whether nitric oxide could relax isolated tracheal strips, and then we examined the effects of known inhibitors of endothelium-dependent relaxation (EDR) in the vascular system [hemoglobin, methylene blue, and NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA)] on epithelium-dependent relaxation (EpDR) induced by hyperosmotic stimuli in perfused whole tracheal preparations. Mannitol (160 mM in Krebs-Henseleit solution) applied to the epithelial surface was used as an osmotic stimulus to induce EpDR after carbachol-induced contraction (2 microM, serosal side). Nitric oxide produced concentration-dependent and complete relaxation of epithelium-denuded tracheal strips. Preincubation of the whole trachea with hemoglobin significantly inhibited osmotic-induced EpDR (P less than 0.05), but preincubation with methylene blue and L-NMMA did not. Hemoglobin introduced into the epithelial side after EpDR induced by hyperosmotic stimuli reversed relaxation, but methylene blue and L-NMMA did not. These results suggest that, although EpDR and vascular EDR have some pharmacological similarities and nitric oxide can relax airway smooth muscle, nitric oxide is not responsible for osmotic-induced EpDR.