Zhang DX, Gauthier KM, Chawengsub Y, Campbell WB. ACh-induced relaxations of rabbit small mesenteric arteries: role of arachidonic acid metabolites and K ϩ . Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 293: H152-H159, 2007. First published March 2, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00268.2006.-ACh-induced endothelium-dependent relaxation in rabbit small mesenteric arteries is resistant to N-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA) and indomethacin but sensitive to high K ϩ , indicating the relaxations are mediated by endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors (EDHFs). The identity of the EDHFs in this vascular bed remains undefined. Small mesenteric arteries pretreated with L-NA and indomethacin were contracted with phenylephrine. ACh (10 Ϫ10 to 10 Ϫ6 M) caused concentration-dependent relaxations that were shifted to the right by lipoxygenase inhibition and the Ca 2ϩ -activated K ϩ channel inhibitors apamin (100 nM) or charybdotoxin (100 nM) and eliminated by the combination of apamin plus charybdotoxin. Relaxations to ACh were also blocked by a combination of barium (200 M) and apamin but not barium plus charybdotoxin. Addition of K ϩ (10.9 mM final concentration) to the preconstricted arteries elicited small relaxations. K ϩ addition before ACh restored the charybdotoxin-sensitive component of relaxations to ACh. K ϩ (10.9 mM) also relaxed endothelium-denuded arteries, and the relaxations were inhibited by barium but not by charybdotoxin and apamin. With the use of whole cell patch-clamp analysis, ACh (10 Ϫ7 M) stimulated voltage-dependent outward K ϩ current from endothelial cells, which was inhibited by charybdotoxin, indicating K ϩ efflux. Arachidonic acid (10 Ϫ7 to 10 Ϫ4 M) induced concentration-related relaxations that were inhibited by apamin but not by charybdotoxin and barium. Addition of arachidonic acid after K ϩ (10.9 mM) resulted in more potent relaxations to arachidonic acid compared with control without K ϩ (5.9 mM). These findings suggest that, in rabbit mesenteric arteries, ACh-induced, L-NA-and indomethacin-resistant relaxation is mediated by endothelial cell K ϩ efflux and arachidonic acid metabolites, and a synergism exists between these two separate mechanisms.acetylcholine; potassium channels; lipoxygenase; endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor STIMULATION OF THE VASCULAR endothelium with ACh, bradykinin, and increases in flow induces vasodilation by releasing soluble factors such as nitric oxide (NO), prostacyclin, and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factors (EDHFs; see Refs.