The contrasting influence of two lipoxygenase inhibitors on hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in anesthetized pigs.

Because leukotrienes may mediate hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV), we examined the influence of two lipoxygenase inhibitors on HPV in anesthetized pigs. HPV was induced by ventilation with a hypoxic gas mixture (FIO2 at 0.095), resulting in a fall in PaO2 to 23 +/- 2 mm Hg and a rise in pulmonary vascular resistance from 285 +/- 15 to 595 +/- 30 dyne/s/cm-5. After infusion of either U-60,257B (50 mg/kg, n = 13) or BW 755c (20 mg/kg, n = 8), the responses to repeated hypoxic challenges were recorded. After U-60,257B infusion the hypoxic pressor response was eliminated at 10 and 30 min and remained significantly (p less than 0.01) attenuated at 50 min. The pulmonary pressor response to angiotensin II infusion (0.2 micrograms/kg/min) was also ablated, whereas the systemic response was unchanged. In contrast, after BW 755c infusion there was a modest but sustained augmentation of HPV, maximum at 30 min (pulmonary vascular resistance, 158 +/- 23% control, p less than 0.01), and no alteration of the responses to angiotensin II. BW 755c inhibited the A23187-induced release of leukotrienes, but not histamine, from isolated porcine lung cells (IC50, 6.3 x 10(-5) M), whereas U-60,257B inhibited the release of both leukotriene (IC50, 1.1 x 10(-4) M) and histamine. These findings indicate that reduction of HPV by lipoxygenase inhibitors is not necessarily a consequence of inhibition of leukotriene synthesis.