RESUMEN
The present work studied the effects of the essential oil of Pterodon polygalaeflorus (EOPP), a plant used to treat bronchitis and amigdalytis, on rat airway smooth muscle in vitro. In Ca(2+)-containing medium, EOPP (100-1300 microg/ml) inhibited preferentially high KCl- than 5-HT-induced muscle contractions in a concentration-dependent fashion, but did affect neither basal muscle tension nor ACh-induced contractions. In preparations maintained in either 60 mM K(+) or 10 microM ACh in Ca(2+)-free medium, EOPP (100, 600 and 1300 microg/ml) inhibited maximum contractile response induced by cumulative Ca(2+) addition (0.1-20 mM). Verapamil (10, 30 and 100 microg/ml), a Ca(2+) channel blocker, also inhibited Ca(2+)-induced concentration-effect curve in presence of ACh in Ca(2+)-free medium, whilst it was ineffective to decrease cholinergic contractions in Ca(2+)-containing medium. In presence of 150 mM K(+) in Ca(2+)-containing medium, EOPP (1300 microg/ml) did not reversed ACh-induced contractions. In contrast, under similar conditions, EOPP almost fully relaxed cholinergic contractions of tracheal smooth muscle in Ba(2+)-containing medium. In medium containing 10 mM tetraethylammonium and 2 mM Ba(2+) instead of Ca(2+), both EOPP (1300 microg/ml) and verapamil (approximately 5 microg/ml) significantly decreased ACh-induced contractions. Thus, in rat isolated trachea, EOPP induces inhibitor effects on contractions preferentially triggered by an electromechanical coupling mode.