A possible mechanism for relaxation of rat uterine smooth muscle by nicardipine hydrochloride (YC-93), a new potent vasodilator.

A new potent vasodilator, nicardipine hydrochloride inhibited oxytocin-induced contraction of rat uterus dose-dependently with an increase in the intracellular cyclic AMP level at the onset of relaxation. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP and papaverine, an inhibitor of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase (PDEase), also inhibited the contraction. Nicardipine inhibited competitively PDEase in homogenates of rat uterus which exhibited apparently two Km values for cyclic AMP (3.6 micro M and 67.3 micro M) with the Ki of 5.3 micro M and 13.2 micro M, respectively, but had no effect on adenylate cyclase. Nicardipine enhanced calcium uptake by rat uterine microsomes, at concentrations which inhibited oxytocin-induced contraction in the same manner as cyclic AMP. The maximal stimulation by nicardipine of the microsomal calcium uptake was identical substantially to that by cyclic AMP, and both were not additive. Cyclic AMP was also accumulated during the uptake reaction in the presence of nicardipine. On the contrary, neither myosin ATPase nor microsomal Ca2+-dependent ATPase was inhibited directly by nicardipine. These results suggest that the inhibition of oxytocin-induced contraction of rat uterus by nicardipine may be due to an enhancement of microsomal calcium uptake, mediated by cyclic AMP accumulated through the inhibition of PDEase.