Pharmacological comparison of isolated bronchial artery and pulmonary vein: possible functional relationships.

Using selective agonists and antagonists, active alpha and beta 1-adrenoceptors and muscarinic cholinoceptors were identified in isolated strips of bronchial artery and pulmonary vein. Beta 2 receptors were located in the bronchial artery only. The bronchial artery was more sensitive to phenylephrine and less sensitive to carbachol than the corresponding pulmonary vein, which was in turn more sensitive to the spasmogenic action of serotonin, SRS-A and prostaglandins than the artery. Both vessels contained histamine H1-receptors and tryptamine D-receptors. Histamine H2-receptors were confined to the pulmonary vein. The data are consistent with the involvement of both bronchial and pulmonary vasculature in allergic pulmonary diseases.