Efonidipine, a calcium antagonist, has been reported to dilate not only afferent but also efferent arterioles, thereby reducing glomerular hydrostatic pressure. We investigated the effect of chronic treatment with efonidipine or lisinopril on the afferent and efferent arteriolar diameters by the vascular cast technique. Four-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were divided into three...

In animals with bilaterally normal hearing, olivocochlear pathways can protect the cochlea from the temporary shifts in hearing sensitivity (temporary threshold shifts; TTSs) caused by short-duration intense loud sounds. The crossed olivocochlear pathway provides protection during binaural loud sound, and uncrossed pathways protect when monaural or binaural loud sounds occur in noise background...

1. Microphonic and summating potentials were recorded extracellularly from lateral line organs in the suborbital canal of the perch in response to sinusoidal movements of canal fluid. 2. These potentials were changed in amplitude, shape and phase, relative to the mechanical stimulus, by electrical stimulation of efferent fibres in the lateral line nerve. 3. The receptor potential amplitude/stim...

Bradykinin dilates efferent arterioles via release of efferent arteriole epoxyeicosatrienoic acids when perfused retrograde (no glomerular autacoids). However, when efferent arterioles are perfused orthograde through the glomerulus, bradykinin-induced dilatation is caused by a balance between: (1) the glomerular vasoconstrictor 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and vasodilator prostaglandins, and...

Seminiferous tubular atrophy may involve indirectly the disruption of estrogen receptor-α (ESR1) function in efferent ductules of the testis. ESR1 helps to maintain fluid resorption by the ductal epithelium and the inhibition or stimulation of this activity in rodent species will lead to fluid accumulation in the lumen. If not resolved, the abnormal buildup of fluid in the head of the epididymi...

The dynamic adjustment of hearing sensitivity and frequency selectivity is mediated by the medial olivocochlear efferent reflex, which suppresses the gain of the 'cochlear amplifier' in each ear. Such efferent feedback is important for promoting discrimination of sounds in background noise, sound localization and protecting the cochleae from acoustic overstimulation. However, the sensory driver...