Characterization of optimal resting tension in human pulmonary arteries.

Aim: To determine the optimum resting tension (ORT) for in vitro human pulmonary artery (PA) ring preparations.

Methods: Pulmonary arteries were dissected from disease free sections of the resected lung in the operating theatre and tissue samples were directly sent to the laboratory in Krebs-Henseleit solution (Krebs). The pulmonary arteries were then cut into 2 mm long rings. PA rings were mounted in 25 mL organ baths or 8 mL myograph chambers containing Krebs compound (37 °C, bubbled with 21% O: 5% CO) to measure changes in isometric tension. The resting tension was set at 1-gram force (gf) with vessels being left static to equilibrate for duration of one hour. Baseline contractile reactions to 40 mmol/L KCl were obtained from a resting tension of 1 gf. Contractile reactions to 40 mmol/L KCl were then obtained from stepwise increases in resting tension (1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 gf).

Results: Twenty PA rings of internal diameter between 2-4 mm were prepared from 4 patients. In human PA rings incrementing the tension during rest stance by 0.6 gf, up to 1.6 gf significantly augmented the 40 mmol/L KCl stimulated tension. Further enhancement of active tension by 0.4 gf, up to 2.0 gf mitigate the 40 mmol/L KCl stimulated reaction. Both Myograph and the organ bath demonstrated identical conclusions, supporting that the radial optimal resting tension for human PA ring was 1.61 g.

Conclusion: The radial optimal resting tension in our experiment is 1.61 gf (15.78 mN) for human PA rings.