Effects of cyclooxygenase inhibitors, prostaglandins F2 alpha and I2, on isolated coeliac and basilar arteries of alloxan-diabetic dogs.

The effects of prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors PGF2 alpha and PGI2 on the tone of isolated basilar and coeliac arteries were studied in healthy and alloxan-diabetic dogs. PGF2 alpha (1 mumol 1-1) produced a significantly higher tone in diabetic basilar arteries (1.15 +/- 0.16 mN) than in normal cerebral vessels (0.7 +/- 0.10 mN). By contrast, the contractile responses of normal and diabetic coeliac arteries to PGF2 alpha did not differ. The cyclooxygenase inhibitors indomethacin (3 mumol 1-1) and suprofen (0.58 mumol 1-1) potentiated the PGF2 alpha-evoked contractions in all of the vessels studied. The percent potentiation was greater (50-60%) in the basilar arteries from alloxan-treated dogs than in normal basilar vessels (22-30%). There was not such a difference between diabetic and normal coeliac arteries. Prostacyclin produced a concentration-related relaxation in the presence of indomethacin or indomethacin + PGF2 alpha. The relaxant potencies of PGI2 were similar in the vessels from metabolically healthy and diabetic dogs. The IC50 values for PGI2 were 11.6 +/- 1.3 and 11.8 +/- 1.8 nmol 1-1 in normal and diabetic basilar arteries, respectively; they were 25.4 +/- 3.2 and 26.2 +/- 3.9 nmol 1-1 in control and alloxan-treated coeliac vessels. These results indicate that normal and diabetic vessels may have differential reactivity to cyclooxygenase inhibitors, this difference being dependent on the vascular region.