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First published online June 15, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 2586-2594 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02290

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Effect of pH on trout blood vessels and gill vascular resistance

Michael P. Smith, Ryan A. Dombkowski, Jeffrey T. Wincko and Kenneth R. Olson^*

Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend Center, 1234 Notre Dame Avenue, South Bend, IN 46617, USA and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: olson.1{at}nd.edu)

Accepted 20 April 2006

pH is recognized as a modulator of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) tone in mammalian vessels, but little is known about its effects on fish VSM. We investigated the effects of extracellular and intracellular pH (pH_o and pH_i, respectively) on isolated vessels from steelhead and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Skamania and Kamloops strains, respectively) and of pH_o on perfused gills from rainbow trout. In otherwise unstimulated (resting) efferent branchial (EBA) and coeliaco-mesenteric arteries (CMA), anterior cardinal veins (ACV) and perfused gills, increasing pH_o from 6.8 to 8.8–9.0 produced a dose-dependent contraction or increase in gill resistance (R_GILL) with an estimated half-maximal response of 8.0–8.2. pH_o interactions with other contractile stimuli were agonist specific; more force was developed at low pH_o in ligand-mediated (arginine vasotocin) contractions, whereas depolarization-mediated (40–80 mmol l^–1 KCl) contractions were greatest at high pH_o. Increasing pH_i by application of 40 mmol l^–1 NH₄Cl produced sustained contraction in afferent branchial arteries (ABA) suggesting that these vessels could not readily restore pH_i. NH₄Cl application only transiently contracted EBA and CMA in Hepes buffer, whereas it produced a slight, but prolonged, relaxation of EBA and CMA in Cortland buffer. The buffer effect was due to the presence of Hepes and in this environment EBA and CMA appeared to readily restore pH_i. Increasing pH_i in KCl-contracted EBA in Hepes produced an additional contraction, whereas ligand-contracted (thromboxane A₂ analog, U-46619) EBA relaxed. Reducing pH_i (NH₄Cl washout) transiently contracted resting EBA and CMA in both Hepes and Cortland buffer. NH₄Cl washout produced an additional, transient contraction of both KCl- and U-46619-contracted EBA in Hepes. EBA contractions produced by increased pH_i depend primarily on intracellular Ca²⁺, whereas both intracellular and extracellular Ca²⁺ contributed to the response to decreased pH_i. Three cycles of perfusate acidification (pH_o 7.8 to 6.2 and back to 7.8) reproducibly halved, then restored R_GILL with no adverse effects, indicating that this was not a pathophysiological response. These studies show that the general effects of pH on VSM are phylogenetically conserved from fish to mammals but even within a species there are vessel-specific differences. Furthermore, as fish are exposed to substantial fluctuations in environmental (and therefore plasma) pH, the obligatory response of fish VSM to these changes may have substantial impact on cardiovascular homeostasis.

Key words: pH, fish, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, vessels, gills, vascular tone

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