Vasorelaxing Effect of Hypoxia via Rho-kinase Inhibition on the Agonist-specific Vasoconstriction

Abstract −The present study was undertaken to determine whether hypoxia influences on the agonist-induced vascular smooth muscle contraction and, if so, to investigate the related mechanism. The measurement of iso-metric contractions using a computerized data acquisition system was combined with molecular experiments. Hypoxia significantly inhibited fluoride-induced contraction regardless of endothelial function, but there was no relaxation on thromboxane A2 mimetic U-46619-induced contraction suggesting that other pathway such as Ca2+ entry or thin filament regulation was not affected. In addition, hypoxia significantly decreased fluoride-induced increase of phospho-myosin-targeting subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase (pMYPT1). Interest-ingly, hypoxia didn’t inhibit significantly phenylephrine-induced contraction suggesting that myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) activity or thin filament regulation is less important on the hypoxia-induced vasorelaxation in the denuded muscle than Rho-kinase activity. In conclusion, this study provides the evidence and possible related mechanism concerning the vasodilation effect of hypoxia on the agonist-specific contraction in rat aortic rings regardless of endothelial function