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The ability of various nitric oxide (NO) donors to induce long-lasting inhibition of contraction in isolated arteries was compared. All the studied compounds elicited a relaxant effect in rat aortic rings precontracted with norepinephrine (NE). Almost maximal relaxation was obtained with 1 μM of each compound. The S -nitrosating agents S- nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), S -nitroso- N -acetylpenicillamine, S -nitroso- N -acetylcysteine, and sodium nitroprusside (1 μM) produced a decrease of the maximal effect of NE that persisted after removal of the drug. This hyporesponsiveness to NE was associated with a relaxant effect of N- acetylcysteine, a low-molecular weight thiol that can displace NO from cysteine-NO bonds. Such modifications of contraction were not observed in aortic rings previously exposed to 1 μM S- nitrosocysteine, glyceryl trinitrate, 3-morpholinosydnonimine, or 2-( N , N -diethylamino)-diazenolate-2-oxide (DEA-NO). The same differential effects of GSNO and DEA-NO on contraction were also observed in porcine coronary arteries. Rat aortic rings previously exposed to 100 μM GSNO, but not to 100 μM DEA-NO, displayed a persistent increase in NO content (determined by NO spin trapping) and cysteine-NO residues (determined by immunostaining with an anti-cysteine-NO antiserum). The GSNO-induced increase in cysteine-NO residues in aortic tissue was prevented by the thiolmodifying agent p -hydroxymercuribenzoic acid. This study shows that in isolated arteries, the effects of S- nitrosating agents differed from those of other NO-donating agents. S- Nitrosating agents induced a persistent inhibition of contraction, which was attributed to the formation of releasable NO stores by S- nitrosation of tissue thiols. These differential effects of NO donors may be important for orientating their therapeutic indications.

S-Nitrosation of cysteine residues plays an important role in nitric oxide (NO) signaling and transport. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of S-nitrosothiols as a storage form of NO, which may account for the long-lasting effects in the vasculature. Rat aorta exposed to S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) displayed, even after washout of the drug, a persistent increase in cysteine-NO residues (detected by immunostaining using an antiserum that selectively recognized S-nitrosoproteins) and in NO content (detected by NO spin-trapping), a persistent attenuation of the effect of vasoconstrictors, and a relaxant response upon addition of low molecular weight (LMW) thiols. Rat mesenteric and porcine coronary artery exposed in vitro to GSNO, as well as aorta and mesenteric arteries removed from rats treated in vivo with GSNO, displayed similar modifications of contraction. In isolated aorta exposed to GSNO, the decrease of the contractile response and the relaxant effect of LMW thiols were both blunted by NO scavengers (oxyhemoglobin or 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide) or by a cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor (Rp-8-bromoguanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphorothioate). In these arteries, mercuric chloride (which cleaves the cysteine-NO bond) exerted a transient relaxation, completely abolished the one of LMW thiols, and blunted the increase in cysteine-NO residues and NO content. Together, these data support the idea that S-nitrosation of cysteine residues is involved in long-lasting effects of NO on arterial tone. They suggest that S-nitrosation of tissue thiols is a mechanism of formation of local NO stores from which biologically active NO can subsequently be released.

The inhibition of arterial tone produced by two nitric oxide (NO) derivatives of biological relevance, dinitrosyl–iron complexes with cysteine (DNIC-CYS) or with glutathione (DNIC-GSH), was compared. Both compounds induced vasorelaxation within the same concentration range (3–300 nM) in endothelium-denuded rat aortic rings. Consistent with a faster rate of NO release from DNIC-CYS than from DNIC-GSH, the relaxant effect of DNIC-CYS was rapid in onset and tended to recover with time, whereas the one of DNIC-GSH developed slowly and was sustained. In addition, DNIC-GSH (0.3 and 1 μM) but not DNIC-CYS (1 μM) induced, even after washout of the drug, a persistent hyporesponsiveness to vasoconstrictors and a relaxant effect of low molecular weight thiols like N -acetylcysteine (NAC, which can displace NO from preformed NO stores). Both effects of DNIC-GSH were associated with elevation of cyclic GMP content and were attenuated by NO scavengers or a cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinases inhibitor. In rings previously exposed to DNIC-GSH, addition of mercuric chloride (which can cleave the cysteineNO bond of S -nitrosothiols) elicited relaxation, completely blunted the one of NAC and also abolished the persistent elevation of NO content. In conclusion, this study shows that whereas both DNIC-CYS and DNIC-GSH elicited a NO release-associated relaxant effect in isolated arteries, only DNIC-GSH induced an inhibition of contraction which persisted after drug removal. The persistent effect of DNIC-GSH was attributed to the formation of releasable NO stores in arterial tissue, most probably as S -nitrosothiols. Thus, the nature of the thiol ligand plays a critical role in determining the mechanisms and duration of the effect of LMW-DNIC in arteries.

The present experiments were designed to analyze the influence of copper and iron ions on the process of decomposition of S-nitrosocysteine (cysNO), the most labile species among S-nitrosothiols (RSNO). CysNO fate in buffer solution was evaluated by optical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, and the consequences on its vasorelaxant effect were studied on noradrenaline-precontracted rat aortic rings. The main results are the following: (i) copper or iron ions, especially in the presence of the reducing agent ascorbate, accelerated the decomposition of cysNO and markedly attenuated the amplitude and duration of the relaxant effect of cysNO; (ii) by contrast, the iron and copper chelators bathophenantroline disulfonic acid (BPDS) and bathocuproine disulfonic acid (BCS) exerted a stabilizing effect on cysNO, prolonged its vasorelaxant effect, and abolished the influence of ascorbate; (iii) in the presence of ascorbate, BPDS displayed a selective inhibitory effect toward the influence of iron ions (but not toward copper ions) on cysNO decomposition and vasorelaxant effect, while BCS prevented the effects of both copper and iron ions; (iv) l -cysteine enhanced stability and prolonged the relaxant effect of cysNO; (v) the process of iron-induced decomposition of cysNO was associated with the formation of EPR-detectable dinitrosyl–iron complexes (DNIC) either with non-thiol- or thiol-containing ligands (depending on the presence of l -cysteine), both of which exhibiting vasorelaxant properties. From these data, it is concluded that the amount of intrinsic copper was probably too low to produce a destabilizing effect even on the most labile RSNO, cysNO, and that only intrinsic iron, through the formation of DNIC, was responsible for the process of cysNO decomposition and thus influenced its vasorelaxant properties.

Despite short halflife in biological fluids, nitric oxide (NO) can produce remote or long lasting effect in the cardiovascular system. Long distance transport or local storage of NO might explain these effects. In blood, recent findings suggest that in addition to being a major consumption pathway, interaction of NO with hemoglobin may permit O(2)-governed transport of NO (as S-nitrosohemoglobin) to tissues in which NO may be released together with O(2), via transnitrosation of a transport protein. In blood vessels, two different putative NO stores have been characterized. The first is the photosensitive store, formed from endothelium-derived NO. The mechanism of NO release from this store in the body (in absence of light) and its physiological relevance are unknown. The second store is generated in conditions of high tissue NO levels, as a consequence of the inducible NO synthase activity or in various stress conditions. This NO store involves formation of protein-bound dinitrosyl iron complexes or S-nitrosated proteins, or both. Low molecular weight thiols can displace NO from these stores and probably transfer it to target membrane protein(s) such as K(+) channels, via transnitrosation reactions. These stores may be involved in defence mechanisms against inflammation or stress. Thus, NO transport and storage mechanisms may be implicated in a variety of NO effects. The mechanisms of their formation and of NO release and their physiologic and pathophysiologic relevance deserve further investigations.