Mechanisms of endothelium-dependent vascular smooth muscle relaxation elicited by bradykinin and VIP.

The objective of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms by which bradykinin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) relax bovine intrapulmonary artery and bradykinin, but not VIP, relaxes intrapulmonary vein. Bradykinin and VIP elicited entirely endothelium-dependent relaxation of phenylephrine-precontracted arterial rings, and this was associated with arterial accumulation of both guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) and adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP). Bradykinin, but not VIP, relaxed precontracted venous rings and increased cGMP, but not cAMP levels, by endothelium-dependent mechanisms. Neither arteries nor veins relaxed in response to substance P, thrombin, bombesin, arginine vasopressin, or angiotensin II. Methylene blue or indomethacin each partially antagonized, whereas both, when together, abolished arterial relaxant responses to bradykinin and VIP. Methylene blue or indomethacin, respectively, abolished arterial cGMP or cAMP accumulation elicited by bradykinin and VIP. Venous relaxation and cGMP accumulation elicited by bradykinin was abolished by methylene blue but was unaltered by indomethacin. Thus bradykinin and VIP relaxed bovine intrapulmonary artery by endothelium-dependent mechanisms involving the actions of cGMP and cAMP whose formation may be stimulated by endothelium-derived relaxing factor and prostacyclin, respectively. In contrast, bradykinin relaxed intrapulmonary vein by endothelium-dependent mechanisms involving only cGMP.