• T Sato, K Hirota, A Matsuki, E K Zsigmond, and S F Rabito.
• Department of Anesthesiology, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, USA.
• Anesth. Analg. 1997 Mar 1; 84 (3): 641-7.

AbstractAirway epithelial cells and vascular endothelial cells modulate the tone of the underlying smooth muscle by releasing relaxing factors such as prostanoids and nitric oxide (NO). In the present study, we investigated whether the relaxant effect of ketamine depends on any of the epithelium-derived relaxing factors. Tracheae of female guinea pigs were cut spirally into strips (15 x 3 mm) and mounted in water-jacketed organ baths filled with Krebs-bicarbonate buffer aerated with a mixture of 95% O2 and 5% CO2 at 37 degrees C. Changes in the tension of the strips were measured isometrically with a force displacement transducer and recorded with a polygraph. In the first set of experiments, we examined the effect of ketamine on the concentration-response curves for histamine and carbachol in strips in which the epithelium was kept intact and in strips with denuded epithelium. In the second and third set of experiments, we studied the effect of indomethacin, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, and N-omega-nitro-L-arginine methylester(L-NAME), a NO synthase inhibitor, on the relaxant activity of ketamine on tracheal strips contracted by histamine or carbachol. The following results were obtained: 1. Mechanical denudation of the tracheal epithelium shifted the concentration-response curve for histamine to the left (the 50% effective concentration [EC50] value of histamine decreased from 3.5 +/- 0.02 x 10(-6) M in the intact strips to 0.98 +/- 0.01 x 10(-6) M in denuded strips, P < 0.001). However, removal of the tracheal epithelium did not change the response to carbachol (the EC50 for carbachol was 1.1 +/- 0.02 x 10(-7) M in intact strips versus 0.88 +/- 0.01 x 10(-7) M after epithelial removal, P > 0.05). 2. Ketamine shifted to the right the concentration-response curves for histamine and carbachol in both intact and denuded tracheae. 3. Indomethacin did not alter the relaxant effect of ketamine on the tracheae contracted by either histamine (the concentration that inhibits 50% [IC50] of ketamine = 1.5 +/- 0.01 x 10(-3) M in control strips and 1.3 +/- 0.04 x 10(-3) M in strips pretreated with indomethacin, P > 0.05) or carbachol (the IC50 of ketamine was 2.5 +/- 0.02 x 10(-4) M in control strips and 2.4 +/- 0.01 x 10(-4) M in strips pretreated with indomethacin, P > 0.05). 4. L-NAME did not influence the relaxant effect of ketamine on tracheae contracted by either histamine (the IC50 of ketamine = 1.6 +/- 0.05 x 10(-3) M in control strips and 1.6 +/- 0.05 x 10(-3) M in strips pretreated with L-NAME, P > 0.05) or carbachol (the IC50 of ketamine = 2.6 +/- 0.04 x 10(-4) M in control strips and 2.3 +/- 0.01 x 10(-4) M in trips pretreated with L-NAME, P > 0.05). These results indicate that neither the mechanical removal of the tracheal epithelium nor the blockade of the release of potent mediators from tracheal epithelial cells influence the relaxant effect of ketamine on guinea pig tracheal strips contracted by histamine or carbachol. We conclude that ketamine relaxes the airway smooth muscle by an epithelium-independent mechanism.

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