Pharmacological examination of the neurokinin-1 receptor mediating relaxation of human intralobar pulmonary artery

The effect of selective tachykinin receptor agonists and antagonists on human isolated intralobar pulmonary arterial rings was investigated. Neither Substance P (SP) nor neurokinin A (NKA) contracted the arteries. Both of these agonists, however, were potent and efficacious at relaxing the arteries that were precontracted with phenylephrine. The negative log (M) EC₅₀ values for SP and NKA were 9.0 and 8.3, respectively. The neurokinin (NK)-3 selective agonist, senktide-analog, and the NK-2 receptor selective agonist, [β-Ala⁸]NKA(4-10), caused neither contractions nor relaxations of the arteries, whereas the NK-1 receptor agonist Ac-[Arg6, Sar9, Met(O2)11]SP(6- 11) (ASM-SP) relaxed the tissue with a potency similar to SP. The relaxations to SP, NKA, and ASM-SP were competitively antagonized by the selective NK-1 receptor antagonist CP 99994, with a pK(b) in the nanomolar range. Antagonism of the ASM- SP-induced relaxations was also noted with FK 888, RP 67580, and L 732,138, although these antagonists were much less potent than CP 99994 in this regard. Another NK-1 receptor selective antagonist, SR 140333, caused an insurmountable antagonism of the SP-induced relaxations. The NK-1 receptor- mediated relaxations could be blocked by removing the endothelium, or by a combination of N-nitro-L-arginine and indomethacin. Measurement of prostanoid generation revealed that in endothelial-intact but not endothelial-denuded tissue, ASM-SP caused a selective increase in the production of 6-keto- PGF1α, the stable metabolite of prostacyclin. The results indicate that stimulation of NK-1 receptors leads to relaxation of human intralobar pulmonary arteries, which is mediated largely by nitric oxide and prostacyclin released from the endothelium of these vessels.