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Vasodilatation in human skeletal muscle arteries (Nitric oxide donor)

Drug Discovery Assay – reference number: B040

Overview

Assay type: Blood Vessels
Tissue: Human Skeletal Muscle Artery (Healthy)
Target: Nitric oxide donor
Control Compound: SNP
Study Type: Wire Myography
Functional Endpoint: Vasodilatation

Assay Description

The experiment assesses whether test articles cause vasodilatation in human skeletal muscle arteries with sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as a reference compound.

Blood flow in skeletal muscle is directly affected by the level of activity of each muscle. Skeletal muscle arteries are involved in the maintenance of arterial blood pressure as skeletal muscle vasculature is the largest vascular bed in the body, therefore changes in skeletal blood flow and pressure can directly affect atrial pressure.

 

Example assay graphFigure 1: Cumulative concentration response curve to sodium nitroprusside in isolated human skeletal resistance arteries, pre-constricted with 3 × 10−8M U46619, demonstrating a concentration dependent relaxation response. The Log EC50= −6.36 ± 0.38M (437nM) (mean ± SEM) with a maximum relaxation response of 91.65 ± 14.74%.

 

Testing Information

Introduction

The specific results that will be provided are the effects of increasing concentrations of test articles on the contractile state of human isolated skeletal muscle arteries.

Turnaround Time

6 weeks from sample receipt for n = 3 donors.

Suggested Testing

In duplicate at 6 concentrations.

Study Outline

Rationale and Experimental Design

The experiment assesses whether test articles cause vasodilatation in human skeletal muscle arteries with SNP as a reference compound. Blood flow in skeletal muscle is directly affected by the level of activity of each muscle. Skeletal muscle arteries are involved in the maintenance of arterial blood pressure as skeletal muscle vasculature is the largest vascular bed in the body, therefore changes in skeletal blood flow and pressure can directly affect atrial pressure.

Exclusion Criteria

No specific exclusion criteria are in place other than to reject macroscopically diseased/necrotic tissue. Furthermore, tissues which do not respond to the standard pharmacology checks will be excluded.

Standardisation and Qualification

All individual vessels are initially processed through standardisation and qualification procedures to ensure functionality, prior to starting the study protocol.

Vessels are processed through a standardisation procedure to reduce signal variability prior to pharmacological intervention. This ensures that vessels are maintained under appropriate physiological tension throughout the experiments.

Following standardisation, vessels are “woken up” by 2 successive high potassium salt solution challenges with washes and recovery periods following each challenge. This process standardises the basal resting tone and ensures robust contractile responses.

Vessels are then challenged with an appropriate vasoconstrictive agent before endothelial function is assessed by the addition of the appropriate endothelial dependent vasorelaxant agent. Test tissues are then washed, and the responses allowed to return to baseline.

Vessels which pass the standardisation and qualification pass/fail criteria will then progress to the study protocol.

Agonist Relaxation Assays

To assess the ability of each test article to elicit vasodilatation, 6 point cumulative concentration response curves (CCRC’s) will be performed for each test article. These CCRC’s will be performed following pre-constriction with an appropriate vasoconstrictive agent. A positive control compound and representative test article vehicle CCRC will also be run to allow direct comparison with test articles.

An example of the conditions assessed for 3 test articles are detailed below (each condition will be run in duplicate vessels):

  • Representative test article vehicle CCRC

  • Test article 1 CCRC

  • Test article 2 CCRC

  • Test article 3 CCRC

  • Positive control CCRC

Supplementary Option

To assess the involvement of a specific receptor subtype in any observed responses, the concentration of test article eliciting the largest response can subsequently (following a wash out and recovery period) be tested in the presence of a specific antagonist. This supplementary option will incur an extra charge.

Antagonist Relaxation Assays

Option 1 − IC50 Determination

To assess the ability of each test article to antagonise an agonist mediated vasorelaxation response, 6 point cumulative concentration response curves (CCRC’s) will be performed for each test article. These CCRC’s will be performed following pre-constriction and relaxation with an appropriate vasorelaxant reference agonist. A positive control compound and representative test article vehicle CCRC will also be run to allow direct comparison with test articles.

An example of the conditions assessed for 3 test articles are detailed below (each condition will be run in duplicate vessels):

  • Representative test article vehicle CCRC

  • Test article 1 CCRC

  • Test article 2 CCRC

  • Test article 3 CCRC

  • Positive control CCRC

Option 2 − pA2 Determination

To assess the ability of a test article to antagonise an agonist mediated vasorelaxation response; 6 point cumulative concentration response curves (CCRC’s) will firstly be performed for the reference agonist, following pre-constriction with an appropriate vasoconstrictive agent.

Following a wash out and recovery period, vessels will be incubated with the test article (3 different concentrations of test article will be assessed), positive control or test article vehicle before the same 6 point cumulative concentration response curve will be repeated for the reference agonist.

An example of the conditions assessed for 3 test articles are detailed below (each condition will be run in duplicate vessels):

  • Representative test article vehicle

  • Test article 1 concentration 1

  • Test article 1 concentration 2

  • Test article 1 concentration 3

  • Test article 2 concentration 1

  • Test article 2 concentration 2

  • Test article 2 concentration 3

  • Test article 3 concentration 1

  • Test article 3 concentration 2

  • Test article 3 concentration 3

  • Positive control

Analysis

Responses shall be expressed either in milligrams or grams tension, or as a % relaxation of the pre-constriction response. Statistical analysis (where appropriate) will be performed using GraphPad Prism, with the results being shown in graphical form in the final report.