Pharmacological coupling and functional role for CGRP receptors in the vasodilation of rat pial arterioles

In this study, we investigated the signal transduction underlying the vasodilator action of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the rat pial arterioles. In an in vivo experiment, changes in pial arterial diameters (20.2 +/- 1.9 mu m) were observed under suffusion with mock cerebrospinal fluid containing CGRP (10(-9)-10(-7) M) directly through a dosed cranial window. Changes in intracellular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation in response to CGRP and levcromakalim were measured in the pial arterioles in an in vitro experiment. CGRP-induced vasodilation and cAMP production were significantly inhibited by specific CGRP antibody serum and CGRP-(8-37) fragment, suggesting involvement of the CGRP(1) receptor subtype. Vasodilation and increase in cAMP production evoked by CGRP were inhibited not only by glibenclamide (ATP-sensitive K+ channel blocker) but also by charybdotoxin (large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel blocker), but this was not the case for the isoproterenol-induced vasodilation and cAMP production. These findings implicate the ATP-sensitive K+ channels and the large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels in the CGRP receptor-coupled cAMP production for vasodilation. Further study is required to identify whether the cAMP-dependent K+ channel activation is related to CGRP-induced vasorelaxation of the rat pial arterioles.