Dose-rate dependent effects of ionizing radiation on vascular reactivity.

This study was designed to investigate the dose-rate dependent effects of ionising radiation on endothelium- and NO-mediated reactivity of aorta and coronary vessels. Rats were exposed to acute ((137)Cs, 9 x 10(-4) Gy s(-1), 18 min) and chronic ((137)Cs, 2.8 x 10(-7) Gy s(-1), 41 days) radiation in 1 Gy dose. Acute irradiation transiently increased coronary flow in eNOS-activity-dependent manner on day 3 after exposure. In striking contrast, chronic irradiation caused a significant depression of coronary flow even on day 90 after irradiation and abolished the effects of NO-synthase inhibitor N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (10 micromol l(-1)). Furthermore, low intensity radiation strongly diminished the vasodilator properties of NO-donor sodium nitroprusside (5 micromol l(-1)). A similar pattern was observed in aortic rings. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation was increased on days 3 and 10 after acute irradiation, but strongly inhibited following chronic exposure for the entire post-radiation period. This was accompanied by a diminished vasodilator response to NO-donor on days 3, 10 and 30 of post-radiation but not on day 90. The data suggest that ionising radiation in 1 Gy induces changes of aortic and coronary vessels reactivity depending on the dose-rate and the interval after exposure.