Sustained pulmonary vasoconstriction contributes to the elevated pulmonary vascular resistance observed in pulmonary arterial hypertension. A rise in cytosolic Ca 2+ in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) is major trigger for pulmonary vasoconstriction. One family of drugs currently being pursued as a potential treatment for pulmonary hypertension are the statins, which act by depleting cholesterol and reducing the number of caveolae. This study aimed at investigating the role of caveolae, membrane receptors, and ion channels (that are potentially located in the caveolae) in agonist-mediated pulmonary vasoconstriction in order to gain a greater understanding of the signaling mechanisms involved in the regulation of pulmonary vascular tone. Chronic treatment of PASMCs with the cholesterol-depleting agent, methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD), significantly reduced the number of cholesterol rich caveolae regions in the membrane. This disruption of cholesterol in caveolae significantly inhibited pharmacomechanical (induced by phenylephrine), but not electromechanical (induced by elevated extracellular potassium concentration), rat pulmonary artery contraction. These results indicate that receptors may Address correspondence to Jason X.J. Yuan, MD, PhD, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, MC 0725, University of California, San Diego, 9100 Gilman Drive, LaJolla, CA 92093-0725, USA. xiyuan@ucsd.edu. The current address of Christian Schach is Clinic for Internal Medicine II, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. In pulmonary vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells, caveo-lae and the signaling cascades localized in the caveolae may have differential effects on pulmonary vascular tone. In this study, we investigated the role of caveolae in electromechanical and pharmacomechanical coupling mechanisms involved in regulating pulmonary vasoconstriction and vasodilation.
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Methods and Materials Tension Measurement in Isolated Pulmonary Artery RingsPulmonary arteries, 2nd to 3rd divisions with an internal diameter of ∼400 μm, were isolated from male Sprague-Dawley rats (100 to 250 g) in accordance with the animal use protocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of California, San Diego. Adipose and connective tissues were carefully removed, and the remaining arteries were cut into 1 to 2 mm long rings and mounted on stainless steel wire (100 μm in diameter) to a force transducer (Harvard Apparatus, Holliston, MA) in an organ bath (the volume is approximately 0.75 mL). Isometric tension was continuously monitored and recorded using DATAQ data acquisition software (DATAQInstruments). Isolated PA rings were superfused (2 to 2.5 mL/min) with modified Krebs solution (MKS; at 37°C) consisting of (in mM): 138 NaCl, 1.8 CaCl 2 , 4.7 KCl, 1.2 MgSO 4 , 1.2 NaH 2 PO 4 , 5 HEPES, and 10 glucose (pH 7.4, with 2 M NaOH). For Ca 2+ -free (0 Ca) MKS, CaCl 2 was replaced by equimolar MgCl 2 and 1 mM EGTA was added to chelate ...