TISSUE SELECTIVITY AND SPASMOGEN SELECTIVITY OF RELAXANT DRUGS IN AIRWAY AND PULMONARY VASCULAR SMOOTH-MUSCLE CONTRACTED BY PGF2-ALPHA OR ENDOTHELIN

1 The spasmolytic effects of smooth muscle relaxant drugs with different mechanisms of action have been examined on isolated preparations of guinea-pig trachea and rat pulmonary artery. The preparations were contracted with concentrations of prostaglandin F2-alpha (PGF2-alpha) or endothelin selected to give approximately 80% of the agonist maximum response on each tissue. These concentrations also caused similar levels of tone (% of tissue maximum contraction) on each tissue. 2 With endothelin as the spasmogen, the potassium channel opening drug, pinacidil, was more potent on trachea (- log IC50 5.49) than on pulmonary artery (4.39), i.e. was airway-vascular selective, whereas with PGF2-alpha as the spasmogen it was more potent on pulmonary artery (6.01) than on trachea (5.27), i.e. was vascular-airway selective. 3 With endothelin as the spasmogen, fenoterol was also airway-vascular selective (8.35 on trachea; little effect on pulmonary artery), nitroprusside was vascular-airway selective (7.50 on pulmonary artery; 5.99 on trachea) and forskolin was non-selective (6.69 on trachea; 6.70 on pulmonary artery). Thus, the airway-vascular selectivity of the relaxant drugs varied with the drug. 4 On pulmonary artery, pinacidil, nitroprusside and forskolin were all more potent against PGF2-alpha than against endothelin, i.e. 42, 4 and 7 fold respectively. On trachea, these drugs were equipotent against PGF2-alpha and endothelin. 5 The results suggest that, in pulmonary artery, but not in trachea, the relative contribution of protein kinase C activation and calcium influx to the maintenance of tonic contractions to endothelin and PGF2-alpha may be different. If protein kinase C activation should be the predominant mechanism for endothelin in pulmonary artery, then it may be more difficult to reverse this with relaxant drugs that lower intracellular calcium. 6 The study indicates that the airway-vascular selectivity of relaxant drugs can be spasmogen-dependent as well as dependent on the mechanism of action of the relaxant drug. Thus, relaxant drugs, whether of interest for their airway or vascular effects, should be tested against a full range of spasmogens of likely pathophysiological importance.