Communication between vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells via low-resistance gap junctions may facilitate vascular function by synchronizing the contractile state of individual cells within the vessel wall. We hypothesized that inhibition of gap junctional communication would impair constrictor responses of mesenteric resistance arteries. Immunohistochemical experiments revealed positive stainin...

Carbon monoxide (CO) has been postulated to be a signaling molecule in many tissues, including the vasculature. We examined vasomotor responses of adult rat and mouse cerebral arteries to both exogenously applied and endogenously produced CO. The diameter of isolated, pressurized, and perfused rat middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) was not altered by authentic CO (10(-6) to 10(-4) M). Mouse MCAs, ...

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) may play a central signaling role in vascular remodeling. We investigated a possible combined role for the renin-angiotensin system and platelet-derived growth factor beta-receptor (PDGF-beta-R) in pressure-induced ERK1/2 activation in intact rat mesenteric small arteries. In an organ culture model, vessels were pressurized (70 mm Hg) for 1 hou...

The present study investigated the role of protein tyrosine phosphorylation in myogenic responsiveness of rat skeletal muscle arterioles. Arteriolar segments were cannulated and pressurized without intraluminal flow. All vessels studied developed spontaneous tone and demonstrated significant myogenic constriction to step changes in pressure with a resultant increase in myogenic tone over an int...

BACKGROUND Dietary quercetin improves cardiovascular health, relaxes some vascular smooth muscle and has been demonstrated to serve as a substrate for the cyclooxygenase enzyme. AIMS 1. To test quantitatively a potential direct vasodilatory effect on intramural coronary resistance artery segments, in different concentrations. 2. To scale vasorelaxation at different intraluminal pressure loads...

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists protect against ischemic cerebrovascular disease; this appears to be caused by changes in cerebral vessel structure that would promote blood flow. Therefore, we hypothesized that mineralocorticoid receptor activation with deoxycorticosterone acetate would cause deleterious remodeling of the cerebral vasculature and exacerbate the damage caused by cerebral ...

Brain parenchymal arterioles (PAs) are high-resistance vessels that branch off pial arteries and perfuse the brain parenchyma. PAs are the target of cerebral small vessel disease and have been shown to have greater pressure-induced tone at lower pressures than pial arteries. We investigated mechanisms by which brain PAs have increased myogenic tone compared with middle cerebral arteries (MCAs),...

Oxy-fuel combustion is recognized one of the most promising available technologies that zero emission accomplishment may be in the offing. With coal burned under the pressure of 6MPa and oxygenenriched conditions, the high temperature and high pressure gaseous combustion product is composed of 95% CO2 and water-vapor, with the rest of O2, N2 and so on. However, once lauded as classic approach o...