Soluble guanylate cyclase-alpha1 deficiency selectively inhibits the pulmonary vasodilator response to nitric oxide and increases the pulmonary vascular remodeling response to chronic hypoxia.

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide (NO) activates soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), a heterodimer composed of alpha- and beta-subunits, to produce cGMP. NO reduces pulmonary vascular remodeling, but the role of sGC in vascular responses to acute and chronic hypoxia remains incompletely elucidated. We therefore studied pulmonary vascular responses to acute and chronic hypoxia in wild-type (WT) mice and mice with a nonfunctional alpha1-subunit (sGCalpha1-/-). METHODS AND RESULTS: sGCalpha1-/- mice had significantly reduced lung sGC activity and vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein phosphorylation. Right ventricular systolic pressure did not differ between genotypes at baseline and increased similarly in WT (22+/-2 to 34+/-2 mm Hg) and sGCalpha1-/- (23+/-2 to 34+/-1 mm Hg) mice in response to acute hypoxia. Inhaled NO (40 ppm) blunted the increase in right ventricular systolic pressure in WT mice (22+/-2 to 24+/-2 mm Hg, P<0.01 versus hypoxia without NO) but not in sGCalpha1-/- mice (22+/-1 to 33+/-1 mm Hg) and was accompanied by a significant rise in lung cGMP content only in WT mice. In contrast, the NO-donor sodium nitroprusside (1.5 mg/kg) decreased systemic blood pressure similarly in awake WT and sGCalpha1-/- mice as measured by telemetry (-37+/-2 versus -42+/-4 mm Hg). After 3 weeks of hypoxia, the increases in right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, and muscularization of intra-acinar pulmonary vessels were 43%, 135%, and 46% greater, respectively, in sGCalpha1-/- than in WT mice (P<0.01). Increased remodeling in sGCalpha1-/- mice was associated with an increased frequency of 5'-bromo-deoxyuridine-positive vessels after 1 and 3 weeks (P<0.01 versus WT). CONCLUSIONS: Deficiency of sGCalpha1 does not alter hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. sGCalpha1 is essential for NO-mediated pulmonary vasodilation and limits chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary vascular remodeling.

Nitric oxide inhalation improves microvascular flow and decreases infarction size after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test if nitric oxide (NO) could improve microvascular perfusion and decrease tissue injury in a porcine model of myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). BACKGROUND: Inhaled NO is a selective pulmonary vasodilator with biologic effects in remote vascular beds. METHODS: In 37 pigs, the midportion of the left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 50 min followed by 4 h of reperfusion. Pigs were treated with a saline infusion (control; n = 14), intravenous nitroglycerin (IV-NTG) at 2 microg/kg/min (n = 11), or inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) at 80 parts per million (n = 12) beginning 10 min before balloon deflation and continuing throughout reperfusion. RESULTS: Total myocardial oxidized NO species in the infarct core was greater in the iNO pigs than in the control or IV-NTG pigs (0.60 +/- 0.05 nmol/mg tissue vs. 0.40 +/- 0.03 nmol/mg tissue and 0.40 +/- 0.02 nmol/mg tissue, respectively; p < 0.01 for both). Infarct size, expressed as percentage of left ventricle area at risk (AAR), was smaller in the iNO pigs than in the control or IV-NTG pigs (31 +/- 6% AAR vs. 58 +/- 7% AAR and 46 +/- 7% AAR, respectively; p < 0.05 for both) and was associated with less creatine phosphokinase-MB release. Inhaled NO improved endocardial and epicardial blood flow in the infarct zone, as measured using colored microspheres (p < 0.001 vs. control and IV-NTG). Moreover, NO inhalation reduced leukocyte infiltration, as reflected by decreased cardiac myeloperoxidase activity (0.8 +/- 0.2 U/mg tissue vs. 2.3 +/- 0.8 U/mg tissue in control and 1.4 +/- 0.4 U/mg tissue in IV-NTG; p < 0.05 for both) and decreased cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the infarct border zone. CONCLUSIONS: Inhalation of NO just before and during coronary reperfusion significantly improves microvascular perfusion, reduces infarct size, and may offer an attractive and novel treatment of myocardial infarction.

The kinetic properties of the carboxy terminal domain of the Bacillus licheniformis 749/I BlaR penicillin-receptor shed a new light on the derepression of beta-lactamase synthesis.

To study the properties of the BlaR penicillin-receptor involved in the induction of the Bacillus licheniformisbeta-lactamase, the water-soluble carboxy terminal domain of the protein (BlaR-CTD) was overproduced in the periplasm of Escherichia coli JM105 and purified to protein homogeneity. Its interactions with various beta-lactam antibiotics were studied. The second-order acylation rate constants k2/K' ranged from 0.0017 to more than 1 micro M-1s-1 and the deacylation rate constants were lower than 4 x 10-5 s-1. These values imply a rapid to very rapid formation of a stable acylated adduct. BlaR-CTD is thus one of the most sensitive penicillin-binding proteins presently described. In the light of these results, the kinetics of beta-lactamase induction in Bacillus licheniformis were re-examined. When starting with a rather high cell density, a good beta-lactamase substrate such as benzylpenicillin is too sensitive to beta-lactamase-mediated hydrolysis to allow full induction. By contrast, a poor beta-lactamase substrate (7-aminocephalosporanic acid) can fully derepress beta-lactamase expression under conditions where interference of the antibiotic with cell growth is observed. These results suggest that acylation of the penicillin receptor is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for full induction.