Comparison of nitric oxide and prostacyclin in endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of human umbilical artery at midgestation, ,

OBJECTIVE: We intended to compare the relative importance of nitric oxide and prostacyclin as endothelium-derived vasorelaxing factors released by histamine in human umbilical artery at the midstage (18 to 22 weeks) of gestation. STUDY DESIGN: By use of very thin muscle strips, which allows rapid diffusional access of applied drugs (in a few seconds), isometric tensions were recorded in response to histamine. The histamine-induced contractions and the relaxing effect of histamine on the potassium chloride (39 mmol/L) contractions were studied in relation to the existence of endothelium, L-NG-nitro arginine, and indomethacin. The relaxing effects of glyceryl trinitrate and prostacyclin on the potassium chloride contractions were also examined. RESULTS: The contractile responses to histamine were more sensitive and the relation tensions of histamine contractions, compared with the 39 mmol/L K+-induced contractions, were larger in endothelium-denuded strips than in endothelium-intact strips. Histamine contractions were enhanced in endothelium-intact strips in the presence of 10 μmol/L L-NG-nitro arginine (competitive inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase) but not in the presence of 10 μmol/L indomethacin (cyclooxygenase inhibitor). Histamine produced a concentration-dependent relaxation during the maintained contraction induced by 39 mmol/L K+. These histamine-induced relaxations were completely blocked by L-NG-nitro arginine but not by indomethacin. Glyceryl trinitrate and prostacyclin relaxed the sustained contractions induced by 39 mmol/L K+ in a dose-dependent manner; however, the degree of relaxation by glyceryl trinitrate was more prominent than that by prostacyclin. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that nitric oxide is more potent than prostacyclin as a vasorelaxing substance released from the endothelium and that nitric oxide has an important role for controlling fetoplacental circulation at midgestation. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1996;175:375-81.)