Phosphodiesterase inhibitors induce endothelium-dependent relaxation of rat and rabbit aorta by potentiating the effects of spontaneously released endothelium-derived relaxing factor.

The selective cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase inhibitor M&B 22948 and the less selective phosphodiesterase inhibitors papaverine and isobutylmethylxanthine (IBMX) each induced a component of relaxation of rat aortic rings that was endothelium-dependent. The most selective agent at inducing endothelium-dependent relaxation was M&B 22948, which caused little relaxation of endothelium-denuded rings at concentrations that produced almost complete relaxation of endothelium-containing rings. Although endothelium-dependent components of relaxation induced by papaverine and IBMX were clearly present, they were less well separated from the endothelium-independent components of relaxation. In the aorta of the rabbit, M&B 22948 and papaverine were less affective at inducing an endothelium-dependent component of relaxation than in the aorta of the rat, and IBMX produced no discernible endothelium-dependent component. The endothelium-dependent components of relaxation induced by M&B 22948, papaverine and IBMX on rat and rabbit aorta were probably dependent on endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF), because they were associated with concomitant endothelium-dependent rises in cyclic GMP, and these components of relaxation as well as the rises in cyclic GMP were completely blocked by the EDRF-blocking agent hemoglobin. The action of hemoglobin was entirely specific, as none of the endothelium-independent components of relaxation induced by any of the phosphodiesterase inhibitors was affected by this hemoprotein. It is likely that the phosphodiesterase inhibitors induce their endothelium-dependent components of relaxation by inhibiting the hydrolysis of cyclic GMP formed in response to EDRF released spontaneously from endothelial cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)