The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of long-term ethanol consumption on arterial responses in vitro in young and aged rats. Therefore, Wistar rats (ages 3 and 29 mo, respectively) were allocated to six groups: control-young, sucrose-young, ethanol-young, control-aged, sucrose-aged, and ethanol-aged. The ethanol-fed groups were given 25% ethanol by intragastric gavage three times a day 4 days a week. Responses of mesenteric arterial rings were examined in standard organ chambers after 5 treatment weeks. In norepinephrine-precontracted arterial rings, endothelium-dependent relaxations to acetylcholine, as well as endothelium-independent relaxations to isoproterenol, were attenuated in aged rats when compared with young controls. Relaxation responses to isoproterenol, but not to acetylcholine and nitroprusside, were clearly improved by ethanol treatment in both young and aged rats. The cyclooxygenase inhibitor diclofenac, which reduces the synthesis of dilating and constricting prostanoids, enhanced the relaxation to acetylcholine in all three aged rat groups but was without significant effect in the young rats. In the presence of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester the relaxation to acetylcholine in control and sucrose-fed aged rats was markedly reduced compared with control rats, whereas in the young controls and in both young and aged ethanol-exposed groups, distinct relaxations to higher concentrations of acetylcholine were still present. The endothelium-independent relaxations to cromakalim, a hyperpolarizing vasodilator acting via ATP-sensitive potassium channels, were also markedly augmented by ethanol feeding in both young and aged rats. In conclusion, ethanol consumption in both young and aged rats was associated with markedly improved arterial relaxations to isoproterenol and cromakalim, as well as clearly augmented relaxation to acetylcholine during inhibition of cyclooxygenase and nitric oxide synthase. These findings suggest that especially the potassium channel-related component of arterial relaxation was augmented by long-term ethanol exposure.

arterial smooth muscle; aging; endothelium; hyperpolarization; Wistar rat

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