Arteriolar vasodilation involves actin depolymerization

Department(s)

Natural Science

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2018

Keywords

Actin cytoskeleton, Myosin, Vascular smooth muscle

Abstract

It is generally assumed that relaxation of arteriolar vascular smooth muscle occurs through hyperpolarization of the cell membrane, reduction in intracellular Ca concentration, and activation of myosin light chain phosphatase/ inactivation of myosin light chain kinase. We hypothesized that vasodilation is related to depolymerization of F-actin. Cremaster muscles were dissected in rats under pentobarbital sodium anesthesia (50 mg/kg). First-order arterioles were dissected, cannulated on glass micropipettes, pressurized, and warmed to 34°C. Internal diameter was monitored with an electronic video caliper. The concentration of G-actin was determined in flash-frozen intact segments of arterioles by ultracentrifugation and Western blot analyses. Arterioles dilated by ~40% of initial diameter in response to pinacidil (1 × 10 mM) and sodium nitroprusside (5 × 10 mM). The G-actin-to-smooth muscle 22α ratio was 0.67 ± 0.09 in arterioles with myogenic tone and increased significantly to 1.32 ± 0.34 (P < 0.01) when arterioles were dilated with pinacidil and 1.14 ± 0.18 (P < 0.01) with sodium nitroprusside, indicating actin depolymerization. Compared with control vessels (49 ± 5%), the percentage of phosphorylated myosin light chain was significantly reduced by pinacidil (24 ± 2%, P < 0.01) but not sodium nitroprusside (42 ± 4%). These findings suggest that actin depolymerization is an important mechanism for vasodilation of resistance arterioles to external agonists. Furthermore, pinacidil produces smooth muscle relaxation via both decreases in myosin light chain phosphorylation and actin depolymerization, whereas sodium nitroprusside produces smooth muscle relaxation primarily via actin depolymerization. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article adds to the accumulating evidence on the contribution of the actin cytoskeleton to the regulation of vascular smooth muscle tone in resistance arterioles. Actin depolymerization appears to be an important mechanism for vasodilation of resistance arterioles to pharmacological agonists. Dilation to the K channel opener pinacidil is produced by decreases in myosin light chain phosphorylation and actin depolymerization, whereas dilation to the nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside occurs primarily via actin depolymerization. 2+ -6 -5 +

Publication Title

American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology

ISSN

03636135

E-ISSN

15221539

Volume

315

Issue

2

First Page

H423

Last Page

H428

DOI

10.1152/ajpheart.00723.2017

PubMed ID

29727217

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