IN THIS ISSUE of the Journal of Applied Physiology, Mazzone et al. (4) demonstrate the role of -adrenergic control of airway vasculature tone, which in turn regulates the magnitude of airway smooth muscle response to bronchoconstrictive challenges. They demonstrate by intravital microscopy the -adrenergic control of microvascular tone and subsequent effects on the magnitude of bronchoconstricti...

BACKGROUND Emerging evidence indicates that an endogenous autocrine/paracrine system involving gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is present in airways. GABAA channels, GABAB receptors, and the enzyme that synthesizes GABA have been identified in airway epithelium and smooth muscle. However, the endogenous ligand itself, GABA, has not been measured in airway tissues. The authors sought to demonstra...

Peripheral muscarinic receptors play key roles in the control of heart rate and smooth muscle activity. In this study, bradycardic and smooth muscle contractile responses to the muscarinic agonist carbamylcholine were compared in isolated tissues from M(2) and M(4) muscarinic receptor knockout mice and their wild-type littermates. Carbamylcholine (1 x 10(-8)-3 x 10(-5) M) produced similar conce...

Vinculin localizes to membrane adhesion junctions where it links actin filaments to the extracellular matrix by binding to the integrin-binding protein talin at its head domain (Vh) and to actin filaments at its tail domain (Vt). Vinculin can assume an inactive (closed) conformation in which Vh and Vt bind to each other, masking the binding sites for actin and talin, and an active (open) confor...

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that an endogenous autocrine/paracrine system involving -aminobutyric acid (GABA) is present in airways. GABAA channels, GABAB receptors, and the enzyme that synthesizes GABA have been identified in airway epithelium and smooth muscle. However, the endogenous ligand itself, GABA, has not been measured in airway tissues. The authors sought to demonstrate t...

The mechanisms of histamine- and bradykinin-induced reflex bronchospasm were determined in anesthetized guinea pigs. With intravenous administration, both autacoids evoked dose-dependent increases in tracheal cholinergic tone. Vagotomy or atropine prevented these tracheal reflexes. When delivered as an aerosol, bradykinin readily increased tracheal cholinergic tone, whereas histamine aerosols w...

Objective(s) The aims of present study were to elucidate the effect of NaHS as a H2S donor on precontracted rat trachea smooth muscle, role of epithelium and nitric oxide in this action. Materials and Methods Tracheal rings from male adult Wistar rats were isolated and mounted in an organ bath containing Krebs–Henseleit solution under 1.5 g resting tension and contractions were recorded isom...

There is relatively little known about expression and activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) through G protein-linked, seven-transmembrane-spanning (STM) receptors in mammalian smooth muscle. To investigate the role of p38 MAPK in smooth muscle, we cloned and sequenced the p38 MAPK expressed in canine smooth muscles. A full-length clone of the canine p38 MAPK expressed in c...

objective(s) the aims of present study were to elucidate the effect of nahs as a h2s donor on precontracted rat trachea smooth muscle, role of epithelium and nitric oxide in this action. materials and methods tracheal rings from male adult wistar rats were isolated and mounted in an organ bath containing krebs–henseleit solution under 1.5 g resting tension and contractions were recorded isometr...