Regulatory pathways for the stimulation of canine tracheal ciliary beat frequency by bradykinin.

1. The effects of bradykinin, a potent inflammatory nanopeptide, on tracheal ciliary beat frequency in vivo were investigated using barbiturate-anaesthetized beagles. Tracheal ciliary beat frequency was measured using heterodyne mode correlation analysis laser light scattering, a technique that does not require surgical intervention. 2. Aerosolized 10(-5) M-bradykinin in 0.9% saline administered for 3 min to eight barbiturate-anaesthetized beagles stimulated tracheal ciliary beat frequency from the baseline of 5.3 +/- 0.1 Hz to a maximum of 16.6 +/- 2.0 Hz, 8 min after aerosol delivery, and ciliary beat frequency remained above baseline for the following 35 min. 3. Intravenously injected hexamethonium bromide, ipratropium bromide or indomethacin did not change baseline tracheal ciliary beat frequency. That down-regulation of ciliary beat frequency below baseline values was not observed with either the neural or the cyclooxygenase blocking agents suggests that neither of these pathways is involved in the maintenance of the observed basal ciliary beat frequency. 4. Bradykinin-induced stimulation of tracheal ciliary beat frequency is blocked by hexamethonium bromide, ipratropium bromide or indomethacin. These data suggest that the stimulation of ciliary beat frequency by bradykinin acts through both cellular cyclooxygenase and parasympathetic pathways in series.