METHYLENE-BLUE PREVENTS HYPOXIC PULMONARY VASOCONSTRICTION IN CATS

The influence of methylene blue, an inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase, on responses to ventilatory and precapillary hypoxia was investigated in the intact-chest cat under conditions of controlled blood flow and constant left atrial pressure. Because methylene blue increased vascular tone, responses to hypoxia were compared when lobar arterial pressure was raised to similar levels with U 46619 and with methylene blue. When lobar arterial pressure was raised with U 46619, ventilation with 7.5% O2 increased lobar arterial pressure significantly. Infusion of methylene blue in concentrations that raised lobar arterial pressure to a value similar to that attained with U 46619 prevented the pressor response to hypoxia, and a significant depressor response was unmasked. The depressor response to hypoxia in the methylene blue-treated animal was not altered by meclofenamate but was blocked by propranolol. A reduction in lobar arterial perfusate PO2 induces an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance in the cat, and this response was prevented by methylene blue. During methylene blue infusion, the vasodilator response to acetylcholine was reduced, whereas the response to isoproterenol was not altered. Although the response to hypoxia was prevented, the pressor response to prostaglandin F2-alpha was not changed. The response to ventilatory hypoxia was enhanced by propranolol or ICI 118551, suggesting that the response is modulated by circulating catecholamines that are probably of adrenal origin. The effects of methylene blue on vascular tone and responses to hypoxia and acetylcholine were reversible, and responses returned to control value after the infusion was terminated. The present data are consistent with the hypothesis that guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) may play a role in the regulation of tone in the pulmonary vascular bed, and that a reduction in vascular cGMP levels may be important in mediating the pressor response to hypoxia in the cat.