Purpose: To identify the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype that mediates cholinergic vasodilation in murine retinal arterioles.
Methods: Muscarinic receptor gene expression was determined in murine retinal arterioles using real-time PCR. To assess the functional relevance of muscarinic receptors for mediating vascular responses, retinal vascular preparations from muscarinic receptor-deficient mice were studied in vitro. Changes in luminal arteriole diameter in response to muscarinic and nonmuscarinic vasoactive substances were measured by video microscopy.
Results: Only mRNA for the M(3) receptor was detected in retinal arterioles. Thus, M(3) receptor-deficient mice (M3R(-/-)) and respective wild-type controls were used for functional studies. Acetylcholine concentration-dependently dilated retinal arterioles from wild-type mice. In contrast, vasodilation to acetylcholine was almost completely abolished in retinal arterioles from M3R(-/-) mice, whereas responses to the nitric oxide (NO) donor nitroprusside were retained. Carbachol, an acetylcholinesterase-resistant analog of acetylcholine, also evoked dilation in retinal arterioles from wild-type, but not from M3R(-/-), mice. Vasodilation responses from wild-type mice to acetylcholine were negligible after incubation with the non-subtype-selective muscarinic receptor blocker atropine or the NO synthase inhibitor N(ω)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, and were even reversed to contraction after endothelial damage with 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate.
Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that endothelial M(3) receptors mediate cholinergic vasodilation in murine retinal arterioles via activation of NO synthase.