The effect of experimental diabetes on cholinergic neurotransmission in rat trachea: role of nitric oxide

We investigated the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on the responses of isolated tracheas to acetylcholine and to electrical field stimulation in streptozotocin-diabetic and controls rats. The contractile responses to acetylcholine were neither different nor affected by the NO synthase blocker, N ω -nitro- l -arginine methyl ester ( l -NAME), in the two groups. Diabetic rat tracheas were supersensitive to field stimulation. l -NAME enhanced field stimulation-induced contractions at low frequencies in control rat tracheas, but had no effect in diabetic rat tracheas. After l -NAME treatment, there was no difference in sensitivity to field stimulation between the groups. The relaxation responses to sodium nitroprusside in acetylcholine-precontracted tracheas were not different between the groups. However, diabetic rat trachea was supersensitive to the relaxant effect of sodium nitroprusside on contractile responses to field stimulation. These results suggested that the increase in sensitivity to field stimulation in tracheas from diabetic rats might be due to impairment in the production and/or release of an endogenous NO-like factor.