AJP - Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Vol 257, Issue 3 799-H803, Copyright © 1989 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Effects of endothelin and vasopressin on cerebral blood vessels

F. M. Faraci
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242.

Endothelin is a recently described peptide which has been suggested to be one type of endothelium-derived contracting factor. The goals of the present study were to examine the effects of endothelin and vasopressin on diameter of cerebral vessels and on permeability of the blood-brain barrier to fluorescein sodium (mol wt of 376). In anesthetized rats, topical suffusion of arginine vasopressin (10(-10) to 10(-7) M) decreased the diameter of pial arterioles, with a reduction of 27 +/- 1% at 10(-7) M in cerebrum and 35 +/- 2% at 10(-8) M for the basilar artery. A low concentration of endothelin (10(-10) M) produced modest (5 +/- 1%) dilatation of pial arterioles. Higher concentrations of endothelin (10(-8) and 10(-7) M) constricted pial arterioles with a reduction in diameter of 22 +/- 5% at 10(-7) M. Dilatation to endothelin was not observed in the basilar artery. The basilar artery constricted to lower doses of vasopressin than endothelin, but vasoconstriction to 10(-7) M endothelin (56 +/- 4%) was greater (P less than 0.05) than that for the same dose of vasopressin. Permeability of the blood-brain barrier to fluorescein sodium was not increased by vasopressin or endothelin. Thus 1) vasopressin produces constriction of brain blood vessels; 2) endothelin produces dilatation of pial arterioles at low doses but constriction at high doses; 3) constrictor responses to both peptides appear to be greater in the brain stem than in the cerebrum; and 4) vasopressin and endothelin do not increase permeability of the blood-brain barrier.

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