Mechanism of Membrane Depolarization Involved in α-Adrenoceptor-Mediated Contraction in Rat Tail and Iliac Arteries.

Our previous studies have shown that phenylephrine-induced contraction of cutaneous arteries is primarily mediated via α-adrenoceptors, but not α-adrenoceptors that generally mediate vascular contraction, and that the larger part of the contraction is induced in a voltage-dependent Ca channel (VDCC)-independent manner. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying the smaller part of the α-adrenoceptor-mediated contraction, i.e., VDCC-dependent one, in cutaneous arteries. Isometric contraction was measured with wire myograph in endothelium-denuded tail and iliac arterial rings isolated from male Wistar rats. LOE908 (10 µM), a cation channel blocker, partially inhibited the contraction induced by phenylephrine in tail and iliac arteries. Nifedipine (10 µM) further suppressed the phenylephrine-induced contraction that remained in the presence of LOE908 (10 µM) in iliac arteries but barely in tail arteries, suggesting that phenylephrine-induced depolarization in tail arteries is due to the activation of LOE908-sensitive cation channels. In iliac arteries, the contraction induced by A-61603, a specific α-adrenoceptor agonist, was also partially inhibited by LOE908 (10 µM); however, nifedipine had little effect on the A-61603-induced contraction that remained in the presence of LOE908 (10 µM), suggesting that depolarization mediated via α-adrenoceptors is due to the activation of LOE908-sensitive cation channels even in iliac arteries. These results suggest that membrane depolarization mediated via α-adrenoceptors is caused by cation influx through LOE908-sensitive cation channels. Less contribution of VDCC to phenylephrine-induced contraction in tail arteries compared to in iliac arteries is likely due to that α-adrenoceptor-mediated activation of VDCC is caused only by depolarization via cation influx through LOE908-sensitive cation channels.