Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on February 3, 2005
Rheumatology 2005 44(4):488-494; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keh517
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Rheumatology Vol. 44 No. 4 © British Society for Rheumatology 2005; all rights reserved
Cooling-induced contraction and protein tyrosine kinase activity of isolated arterioles in secondary Raynaud's phenomenon
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, 1 Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195 and 2 Department of Internal Medicine (Rheumatology), University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Correspondence to: P. Furspan, C.S. Mott Center, Wayne State University, 275 E. Hancock Ave., Detroit, MI 48201, USA. E-mail: aa1985{at}wayne.edu
Objective. To investigate the response of skin arterioles from control subjects and patients with scleroderma and Raynaud's phenomenon (RP/SSc) to cooling and modulators of protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) activity.
Methods. We used the microvessel perfusion technique to characterize the response of isolated dermal arterioles (100–200 µm, outside diameter) from normal (n = 17) and RP/SSc (n = 17) subjects to cooling from 37° to 31°C. Fluorescent immunohistochemistry was used to measure tyrosine phosphorylation.
Results. Arterioles from control subjects exhibited dilation in response to cooling from 37 to 31°C whereas those from RP/SSc subjects contracted (+4.3 ± 1.7 vs –16.7 ± 3.1%, P<0.05, n = 6). In the presence of the protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor sodium orthovanadate (SOV, 10 µM), the response of arterioles from control subjects did not change; however, arterioles from RP/SSC subjects exhibited a significantly greater contraction (–72.6 ± 19.7%; P<0.05, n = 6). Tyrosine phosphorylation of arterioles at 37°C from control and RP/SSc subjects was similar. In response to cooling to 31°C, however, arterioles from RP/SSc subjects exhibited a significantly greater increase in tyrosine phosphorylation compared with those from control subjects (43 ± 7.0% vs 10 ± 3.8%; P<0.01). SOV increased tyrosine phosphorylation in arterioles from both groups (73 ± 11.6% vs 42 ± 5.6%; P<0.05, n = 5). Arterioles from RP/SSC subjects precontracted with norepinephrine exhibited greatly attenuated relaxation to acetylcholine compared with those from control subjects.
Conclusion. The results of this study support the view that the hallmark of Raynaud's phenomenon associated with scleroderma, cooling-induced vasospasm, appears to be mediated by an increase in PTK activity possibly exacerbated by impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation.
KEY WORDS: Cooling, Vasospasm, Raynaud's phenomenon, Vascular smooth muscle, Signal transduction, Endothelium, Scleroderma
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