Role of Endothelium in the Response to Prostaglandin H2 in Isolated Dog Arteries

Prostaglandin (PG) H2 produced a transient contraction followed by a relaxation in helical strips of dog coronary, mesenteric and renal arteries contracted with PGF2a. The contraction was in the order of mesenteric>renal>coronary artery. Removal of endothelium abolished the contraction in these arteries and significantly potentiated the relaxation only in mesenteric arteries. The relaxation was greater in mesenteric arteries than in renal and coronary arteries, denuded of endothelium. PGI2-induced relaxations were not influenced by endothelium denudation. In the arteries contracted with K+, PGH2-induced relaxations were attenuated, compared to those contracted with PGF2a. Treatment with ONO3708, an antagonist of vasoconstrictor PGs, abolished the PGH2-induced contraction and potentiated the relaxation in the K+-contracted arteries. The relaxant response was suppressed by diphloretin phosphate, a PG receptor antagonist, as was the response to PGI2. PGH2-induced contractions in dog coronary, mesenteric and renal arteries would be due to vasoconstrictor PGs produced preferentially in the endothelium. However, production of PGI2 from PGH2 in endothelial and subendothelial tissues do not appear to differ.