Acta physiologica Scandinavica
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Acta Physiol. Scand. · Dec 1990
Endogenous nitric oxide as a probable modulator of pulmonary circulation and hypoxic pressor response in vivo.
The objective of this study was to investigate the role of endogenous nitric oxide, formed from L-arginine, in the regulation of pulmonary circulation in vivo, with special reference to the hypoxic pressor response. In artificially ventilated open-chest rabbits, pulmonary vascular resistance at normoxic ventilation (FIO2 = 21%) was 78 +/- 16 cmH2O ml-1 min 1000-1 (mRUL). Hypoxic ventilation (FIO2 = 10%) increased pulmonary vascular resistance to 117 +/- 17 mRUL. ⋯ L-arginine reversed the effect of N omega-nitro-L-arginine methylester on pulmonary vascular resistance at normoxic ventilation to 140 +/- 26 mRUL and at hypoxic ventilation to 239 +/- 42 mRUL. In spontaneously breathing closed-chest rabbits, N omega-nitro-L-arginine methylester evoked a marked decrease in arterial PO2 and increases in respiration frequency and central venous pressure, while blood pH, PCO2 and base excess remained unchanged. Taken together these findings indicate that endogenous nitric oxide, formed from L-arginine, might be a regulator of ventilation-perfusion matching at normoxic ventilation, and that nitric oxide acts as an endogenous modulator of the hypoxic pressor response.