Comparison between the effects of treatment in vitro and in vivo with lipopolysaccharide on responsiveness of rat thoracic aorta.

Effects of treatment in vivo and in vitro with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the responsiveness of rat thoracic aorta were examined. The endothelium-denuded aortic strips isolated 6 hr after intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of LPS (20 mg/kg), which could produce hemodynamic changes, relaxed in response to L-arginine. The same amplitude of relaxation was produced by L-arginine in the aortic strips incubated with a lower dose of LPS (1 microgram/ml) in vitro for 6 hr. Both relaxing responses were inhibited by NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG). The contractile responses to phenylephrine and KCl were reduced by LPS treatment in vivo or in vitro, but the extent of inhibition was greater in vivo than in vitro. Further, the attenuation of contractile responses was completely reversed by L-NOARG in the strips treated in vitro, whereas the reversal by L-NOARG was incomplete in the strips treated with LPS in vivo. Endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by acetylcholine was attenuated by LPS in vivo but not in vitro. These results suggest that the hyporesponsiveness of rat thoracic aorta after treatment in vitro with LPS, which can produce hemodynamic changes, may be related to an enhanced NO production in the smooth muscle cells, while not only the NO pathway but also additional factors may be involved in the vascular hyporesponsiveness of the sepsis rats.