Ischemia-reperfusion selectively impairs nitric oxide-mediated dilation in coronary arterioles: counteracting role of arginase

A reduction in L-arginine availability has been implicated in the impairment of endothelium-dependent nitric oxide (NO)-mediated vasodilation by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). However, the mechanisms contributing to dysregulation of the L-arginine pool remain unknown. Because endothelial cells can metabolize L-arginine via two major enzymes, that is, NO synthase (NOS) and arginase, we hypothesized that up-regulation of arginase during I/R reduces L-arginine availability to NOS and thus impairs NO-mediated vasodilation. To test this hypothesis, a local I/R was produced in the porcine heart by occlusion of a small branch of left anterior descending artery for 30 min, followed by reperfusion for 90 min. Arterioles (60-110 mum) isolated from non-ischemic and ischemic regions of subepicardium were cannulated and pressurized without flow for in vitro study. Vessels from both regions developed similar levels of basal tone. Although the dilation of I/R vessels to endothelium-independent agonist sodium nitroprusside was not altered, the endothelium-dependent NO-mediated dilations to adenosine and serotonin were attenuated. I/R not only inhibited arteriolar production of NO but also increased arteriolar arginase activity. Arginase inhibitor alpha-difluoromethylornithine enhanced NO production/dilation in normal vessels and also restored the NO-mediated function in I/R vessels. Treating I/R vessels with L-arginine also restored vasodilations. Immunohistochemical data revealed that I/R upregulated arginase but down-regulated NOS expression in the arteriolar endothelium. Pretreating the animals with protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide prevented I/R-induced arginase upregulation and also preserved NO-mediated vascular function. These results suggest that one mechanism by which I/R inhibits NO-mediated arteriolar dilation is through increased arginase activity, which limits the availability of L-arginine to NOS for NO production. In addition, the inability of arginase blockade or L-arginine supplementation to completely restore vasodilatory function may be attributable to the down-regulation of endothelial NOS expression.