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Department of Physiology, United Medical School, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.

1. The effects of the sodium salt of the weak acid lactate on tension and intracellular pH (pH1) were studied in rat mesenteric small arteries mounted on a wire myograph. Sodium lactate was substituted iso-osmotically for sodium chloride. 2. At a concentration of 50 mM, both L- and D-stereoisomers of lactate markedly relaxed arteries preconstricted with noradrenaline (NA) within 10 min. The concentration-response relationship for L-lactate showed that the NA contracture was relaxed by 50% at approximately 26 mM. L-Lactate did not, however, relax arteries preconstricted with high-K+(45 mM) solution. 3. L-Lactate did not alter extracellular pH (pHo) but caused a small but significant decrease in pH1, measured using the pH-sensitive fluorochrome, 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5-(6)-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF). Relaxation to L-lactate was unaffected when this change in pHi was offset by the simultaneous addition of NH4Cl to the solution. 4. Sodium pyruvate (50 mM) caused a significant intracellular acidosis but did not relax arteries preconstricted with NA. 5. L-Lactate-induced relaxations were unaffected by removal of the endothelium or when the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO) was inhibited by 10(-4) M N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). 6. The potassium channel blockers glibenclamide (10 microM), 4-aminopyridine (3 mM) and tetraethylammonium chloride (10 mM) did not affect L-lactate-induced relaxation in arteries preconstricted with NA. Inhibition of guanylate cyclase with Methylene Blue, or cyclooxgenase with indomethacin, also did not affect relaxation to L-lactate. 7. The Rp stereoisomer of adenosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphothioate (Rp-cAMPS), an analogue of cAMP which inhibits competitively stimulation of protein kinase A, reduced significantly L-lactate-induced relaxation at a concentration of 25 microM. Rp-cAMPS also significantly reduced forskolin-induced relaxation of the NA contracture. 8. It is concluded that L-lactate-induced relaxation in this vascular bed is pHi-1 endothelium-, and nitric oxide-independent. It is not mediated by inhibition of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, opening of K+ channels, prostacylin or cyclic GMP. cAMP may however play a role in L-lactate-induced relaxation.

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				G.L. Smith, C. Austin, C. Crichton, and S. Wray A review of the actions and control of intracellular pH in vascular smooth muscle Cardiovasc Res, May 1, 1998; 38(2): 316 - 331. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]