Reduced Basal NO-mediated Dilation and Decreased Endothelial NO-synthase Expression in Coronary Vessels of Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Basal vasomotor tone in coronary vessels is, in part, maintained by nitric oxide (NO) production by endothelial constitutive NO synthase (ecNOS). Alteration of coronary circulation observed in left ventricular hypertrophy secondary to hypertension could be associated with a decrease in NO production. The aim of this study was to measure: (1) coronary flow in the Langendorff-perfused heart model at baseline, after maximum vasodilation in response to adenosine (10−5 ), after endothelium-dependent vasodilation in response to bradykinin (10−8 ) and after ecNOS inhibition by nitro- -arginine methyl ester ( -NAME) (10−4 ); (2) medial thickening of coronary microvessels and perivascular collagen on histological heart sections; and (3) ecNOS expression by immunohistochemical staining in these vessels using 20-week-old spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar–Kyoto control rats (WKY). These measurements were determined by computer-directed color analysis. When SHR were compared with WKY rats, we found: (1) a decrease in basal flow (10.1±0.6v15.3±1.2 ml/min/g,n=10,P<0.001), in maximum flow (15.4±0.7v24.3±1.3 ml/min/g,n=10,P<0.001), in bradykinin-induced flow increment (1.5±0.3v2.6±0.3 ml/min/g,n=5,P<0.05) and in -NAME-sensitive flow (3.3±0.6v6.3±0.9 ml/min/g,n=7,P<0.05); (2) an increase in medial thickness (9.4±0.6v5.4±0.3μm,n=8,P<0.001) and in perivascular collagen area (1509±311v462±120μm2,n=8,P<0.01) of coronary arterioles; and (3) a decrease in ecNOS expression in the endothelium (ecNOS-stained cross-sectional area in arterioles: 40.0±9.1v84.6±9.0μm2,n=7,P<0.005). These results suggest that in SHR the decrease in basal coronary flow can be related to a structural alteration of the microvessels with an increase of perivascular collagen but also to a decrease in ecNOS expression which might be associated with reduced NO production.