Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Low-dose sodium nitrite vasodilates hypoxic human pulmonary vasculature by a means that is not dependent on a simultaneous elevation in plasma nitrite

Ingram, Thomas E., Pinder, Andrew, Bailey, Damien M., Fraser, Alan Gordon and James, Philip Eurig 2010. Low-dose sodium nitrite vasodilates hypoxic human pulmonary vasculature by a means that is not dependent on a simultaneous elevation in plasma nitrite. American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology 298 (2) , H331-H339. 10.1152/ajpheart.00583.2009

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Inorganic nitrite has recently been recognized to possess vascular activity that is enhanced in hypoxia. This has been demonstrated in humans in the forearm vascular bed. In animal models nitrite reduces pulmonary vascular resistance, but its effects upon the pulmonary circulation of humans have not yet been demonstrated. This paradigm is of particular interest mechanistically since the pulmonary vasculature is known to behave differently to the systemic. To investigate, 18 healthy volunteers were studied in a hypoxic chamber (inspired oxygen, 12%) or while breathing room air. Each received an infusion of sodium nitrite (1 μmol/min) or 0.9% saline. Three protocols were performed: nitrite/hypoxia (n = 12), saline/hypoxia (n = 6), and nitrite/normoxia (n = 6). Venous blood was sampled for plasma nitrite, forearm blood flow was measured by strain-gauge plethysmography, and pulmonary arterial pressure was measured by transthoracic echocardiography. Plasma nitrite doubled and clearance kinetics were similar whether nitrite was infused in hypoxia or normoxia. During hypoxia, nitrite increased forearm blood flow (+36%, P < 0.001) and reduced three separate indirect indexes of pulmonary arterial pressure by 16%, 12%, and 17% (P < 0.01). Pulmonary, but not systemic, arterial effects persisted 1 h after stopping the infusion, at a time when plasma nitrite had returned to baseline. No effects were observed during normoxia. Therefore, in hypoxic but not normoxic subjects, sodium nitrite causes arterial and pulmonary vasodilatation. In addition, hypoxia-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction was attenuated for a prolonged period and not dependent on a simultaneous elevation of plasma nitrite. This finding is consistent with the direct extravascular metabolism of nitrite to nitric oxide to effect hypoxia-associated bioactivity.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Medicine
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Uncontrolled Keywords: Hypoxia; Pulmonary hypertension; Vasodilatation; Nitric oxide
Publisher: American Physiological Society
ISSN: 0363-6135
Last Modified: 07 Dec 2022 07:27
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/29785

Citation Data

Cited 65 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item