• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.31 no.1 s.57
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• pp.63-74
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• 1995

It has been known that, during hypoxia, the adrenal medulla is activated to release catecholamines (CA) while hypoxia also inhibits high $K^+$ -induced CA secretion in the cultured bovine adrenal chromaffin cells. The present study was attempted to examine the effect of hypoxia on CA secretion evoked by chlinergic stimulation and membrane-depolarization from the isolated perfused rat adrenal glands and also to clarify its mechanism of action. For this purpose, using the isolated rat adrenal glands, the effects of hypoxia on CA release evoked by nicotinic ($N_1$) and muscarinic ($M_1$) receptor agonists, membrane-depolarizing agent, $Ca^{++}$-channel activator, intracellular $Ca^{++}$-releaser and ACh were determined. Experiments were carried out, perfusing Krebs solution pre-equilibrated with a gas mixture of 95% N_2$ and 5% $CO_2$. Hypoxia was maintained for $3{\sim}4$ hours through the experiments. Hypoxia gradually caused a time-dependent seduction in CA secretion evoked by DMPP ($100{\mu}M$), McN-A-343 ($100{\mu}M$), ACh (5.32 mM), Bay-K-8644 ($10{\mu}M$) and high $K^+$ (56 mM) respectively. How-ever, it did not affect CA secretion evoked by cyclopiazonic acid ($10{\mu}M$). Hypoxia itself also did fail to produce any influence on spontaneous secretory response of CA. These experimental results suggest that hypoxia depresses CA release evoked by both cholinergic stimulation and membrane-depolarization from the isolated rat adrenal medulla, and that this inhibitory activity may be due to the result of the direct inhibition of $Ca^{++}$ influx into the chromaffin cells without any effect on the calcium mobilization from the intracellular store.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.120-130
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• 1992

Background: Although there have been many studies on the pathogenetic mechanism of acute lung injury, it is still elusive. Recently interests have been focused on the role of oxygen free radicals. But the effect of hydroxyl radical on the neutrophil mobilization and the alveolar-capillary permeability is not clear especially in the endotoxin-induced acute lung injury model of rats. This investigation was performed to evaluate the pathogenetic role of hydroxyl radical on the neutrophil accumulation into the lung and the increased alveolar-capillary permeability in the endotoxin-induced acute lung injury in rats. Method: Fifty rats were divided into four groups: vehicle control group (n=5, 6hrs; n=5, 24hrs), endotoxin-treated group (n=10, 6hrs; n=10, 24hrs), Dimethylthiourea (DMTU)-pretreated group (n=10, 6hrs), and deferoxamine (DFX)-pretreated group (n=10, 6hrs). Thirty minutes before sacrifice, $^{125}I$-tagged bovine serum albumin was injected. Six and twenty four hours after endotoxin injection, the rats were sacrificed, and the radioactivity of lung tissue and peripheral blood was counted. Permeability index was defined as the ratio of radioactivity between lung tissue and peripheral blood. Another set of rats (n=52) were divided into the same four groups as before [vehicle control group (n=5, 6hrs; n=5, 24hrs), endotoxin·treated group (n=7, 6hrs; n=8, 24hrs), DMTU-pretreated group (n=6, 6hrs; n=9, 24hrs), and DFX-pretreated group (n=5, 6hrs; n=7, 24hrs)], and were sacrificed 6 and 24 hours after endotoxin injection. In these rats, cell profile of peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was evaluated, and the pathologic examination of lung tissue was performed. Results: 1) Increased alveolar-capillary permeability was observed 6 hours after endotoxin injection, which was normalized after 24 hours, and this increase was attenuated by pretreatment with DMTU and DFX. 2) Neutrophil sequestration into the lung was observed 24 hours after endotoxin administration, but this was not influenced by DMTU and DFX pretreatment. Conclusion: These results suggest that hydroxyl radical would not be involved in the sequestration of neutrophils into the lung, but plays an important role in the increase of alveolar-capillary permeability in the endotoxin-induced acute lung injury in rats.