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Maturation Alters Cyclic Nucleotide and Relaxation Responses to Nitric Oxide Donors in Ovine Cerebral Arteries

To examine the hypothesis that maturation modulates nitric oxide (NO)-induced relaxation in cerebral arteries, we quantified concentration-relaxation relations and the corresponding dynamic responses of guanosine 3′:5′-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) and adenosine 3′:5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) levels following administration of nitroglycerin and S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicilamine (SNAP), an NO donor, in posterior communicating and middle cerebral arteries from newborn (3–7 days) and adult sheep. The results offer 5 main observations: (1) the efficacy and potency of NO donors were generally greater in newborn than in adult cerebral arteries; (2) rates of relaxation, and presumably rates of NO release, were faster for equimolar concentrations of SNAP than for nitroglycerin in both newborn and adult arteries; (3) basal concentrations were greater for cAMP than for cGMP, and both were greater in newborn than adult cerebral arteries; (4) in adult cerebral arteries, NO-induced increases in cGMP occurred faster but relaxation developed more slowly than in newborn cerebral arteries, and (5) responses to NO donors involved significant cross-reactivity between cGMP and cAMP, the characteristics of which were age, artery, and agent specific. From these results, we conclude that postnatal changes in reactivity to NO reflect corresponding changes in soluble guanylate cyclase activity and possible decreases in NO half-life. We also conclude that maturation slows the mechanisms mediating NO-induced relaxation, and that this effect is more pronounced in distal than in proximal cerebral arteries. The data also suggest that the rate-limiting step governing rates of response to NO is probably downstream from cGMP synthesis. From the basal cyclic nucleotide levels, we conclude that basal ratios of synthesis to hydrolysis were greater in fetal than adult arteries. Because NO increased both cGMP and cAMP, we speculate that Type III phosphodiesterase has a possible influence upon cerebrovascular responses to NO, and that this influence varies with postnatal age and artery type. Together, these findings emphasize that the cerebrovascular effects of NO are highly age dependent and artery specific, and should be carefully considered when administering NO therapeutically in the neonate.