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Role of nitric oxide in the regulation of microvascular perfusion in human skin in vivo
Author(s) -
Clough Geraldine F.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7793.1999.0549v.x
Subject(s) - microdialysis , histamine , nitric oxide , in vivo , perfusion , chemistry , intradermal injection , bradykinin , human skin , endocrinology , medicine , basal (medicine) , pharmacology , extracellular , immunology , biochemistry , biology , receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , insulin , genetics
1 Nitric oxide (NO) concentrations were measured in dialysate from healthy human skin, in vivo , both at rest and during the inflammatory response to intradermal histamine or bradykinin. Changes in dialysate NO concentration, measured by electrochemical detection, were related to changes in dermal vascular perfusion, measured using scanning laser Doppler imaging. 2 Basal NO concentration in dermal microdialysate was 0·60 ± 0·14 μM (mean ± s.e.m.). Following the intradermal injection of histamine, a transient, time‐dependent increase in NO concentration was measured in areas of skin incorporating the weal and in others incorporating the flare. The increase in NO concentration was associated with an increase in dialysate cGMP concentration in both the weal and flare areas. 3 Addition of N G ‐nitro‐l‐arginine‐methyl ester (L‐NAME, 5 mM) to the probe perfusate resulted in an inhibition of the histamine‐induced increase in NO and cGMP. Moreover, the reduction in dialysate NO concentration was associated with a reduction in dermal vascular flux, both under basal conditions and within the weal and flare response. 4 These results demonstrate, by the use of microdialysis, that vasoactive mediators can be measured in healthy human skin in vivo . They provide direct evidence that endogenous concentration of NO increases during the inflammatory weal and flare response to histamine and that the increase in dermal NO concentration is associated with increases in cGMP concentration and dermal vascular perfusion, thus confirming a role for NO in vasoregulation in human skin.