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British Journal of Anaesthesia, 1993, Vol. 71, No. 6 877-880
© 1993 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia

research-article

EFFECTS OF FENTANYL ON THE RAT AORTA ARE MEDIATED BY ALPHA-ADRENOCEPTORS RATHER THAN BY THE ENDOTHELIUM

F. KARASAWA, PH.D.*, V. IWANOV, M.SC. and R. F. W. MOULDS, PH.D.

Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia

Correspondence to R.F.W.M.

We have assessed if fentanyl interacts with the endothelium to affect vessel tone. In the presence or absence of endothellum, fentanyl in concentrations greater than 10–7 mol litre–1 decreased the sensitivity of the rat aortic rings to phenylephrine, but fentanyl in smaller concentrations had no significant effect. Rings, with or without endo thelium, and pre-contracted by phenylephrine were relaxed by fentanyl, and this relaxation was not inhibited by the opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone. Pretreatment of the rings with either fentanyl or phentolamine protected alpha adrenoceptors from block by the alpha adrenoceptor antagonist, phenoxybenzamine. We conclude that, in the rat aorta, fentanyl-induced relaxation was mediated by alpha-adrenergic receptors, and that the endothelium modulated, but did not mediate, this relaxation. (Br. J. Anaesth. 1993; 71: 877–880)

*Present address: National Defense Medical College, Department of Anaesthesiology, 3-2 Namiki Tokorozawa, Saitania 359, Japan.


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