Prostaglandins and estradiol-induced attenuation of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.

Pretreatment with estradiol (20 mg IM) attenuated vasoreactivity to decreases in inspired PIO2, lowered baseline resistance measured under conditions of maximal vasodilation (PIO2 = 0 mm Hg), and appeared to increase prostaglandin release in isolated, blood-perfused lungs of juvenile female sheep. Indomethacin (40 micrograms/ml) inhibited prostaglandin release and restored hypoxic vasoreactivity in estrogen-treated lungs, but did not alter the estrogen-induced decrease in baseline resistance. These results suggest that estradiol enhanced the production of prostaglandins which secondarily attenuated hypoxic vasoreactivity. The estradiol-induced decrease in baseline resistance, however, must have been mediated by some other mechanism.