OBJECTIVE Studies have suggested that sex differences in endothelial function in part account for the lower incidence of cardiovascular disease in premenopausal women compared with men. Less is known about the role of smooth muscle. We hypothesized that signaling mechanisms that regulate calcium sensitivity in vascular muscle also play a role in determining sex differences in contractile functi...

aorta, aorta explants and subcultures grown under different conditions. J Cell Biol 75: 166-184, 1977 15. Oewald B, Touster O: A new a-mannosidase occurring in Golgi membranes. J Biol Chem 248: 7223-7233, 1973 16. Bowers WE, Finkenstaedt JT, deDuve C: Lysosomes in lymphoid tissue. I. The measurement of hydrolytic activities in whole homogenates. J Cell Biol 32: 325-337, 1967 17. Daly MM: Effect...

The smooth muscle of the abdominal region of the chicken aorta derives from locally recruited mesenchyme (mesenchymal smooth muscle), whereas that of the thoracic region derives from the neural crest (ectomesenchymal smooth muscle). We hypothesized that this smooth muscle heterogeneity might affect important enzymatic functions of the vessel wall. Therefore, we measured angiotensin converting e...

&3&@wM : Glihenclamide is an oral hypoglycaemic drug. believed to stimulate the release of insulin by blOCking the ATPdepandent potassium channels of the pancreatic p-cell membrane. ATP-regulated K+-channels are also present in vascular smooth muscle cell. Opening of these channels by dnyls such as cmmakalim or pinactdil. hyperpolarizes the smooth muscle cell and induces relaxation. These relax...

Crocin, a component of saffron, showed hypotensive which is perhaps due to vascular smooth muscle relaxant effect. The relaxant effects of saffron on tracheal smooth muscle also could be due to its constituent, crocin. In the present study, the relaxant effects of crocin and its possible mechanisms on rat tracheal smooth muscle were investigated. The relaxant effects of three cumulative concent...

The thoracic aorta of 21-, 28-, 35-, and 45-day-old spontaneously hypertensive (SH) and Wistar Kyoto (WK) rats was analyzed morphometrically to evaluate the cellular hypertrophy and proliferation of medial smooth muscle cells during the development of genetically determined hypertension. The absolute increase in volume of collagen and ground substance, and elastic tissue was also measured. In S...

We previously reported that apoptosis is increased in smooth muscle cells cultured from the aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rats versus normotensive controls. As an initial in vivo exploration, we now examined smooth muscle cell apoptosis regulation during the regression of vascular hypertrophy in the thoracic aorta media of spontaneously hypertensive rats receiving the antihypertensive dru...

&3&@wM : Glihenclamide is an oral hypoglycaemic drug. believed to stimulate the release of insulin by blOCking the ATPdepandent potassium channels of the pancreatic p-cell membrane. ATP-regulated K+-channels are also present in vascular smooth muscle cell. Opening of these channels by dnyls such as cmmakalim or pinactdil. hyperpolarizes the smooth muscle cell and induces relaxation. These relax...

We have synthesized a new series of coumarins and furocoumarins and evaluated their vasorelaxant activity in rat aorta rings pre-contracted with noradrenaline or by depolarisation with high KCl. The new furocoumarins relax smooth vascular muscle with a profile similar to that of khellin (a furochromone that directly relaxes smooth muscle) and at a greater potency, suggesting that these compound...

&3&@wM : Glihenclamide is an oral hypoglycaemic drug. believed to stimulate the release of insulin by blOCking the ATPdepandent potassium channels of the pancreatic p-cell membrane. ATP-regulated K+-channels are also present in vascular smooth muscle cell. Opening of these channels by dnyls such as cmmakalim or pinactdil. hyperpolarizes the smooth muscle cell and induces relaxation. These relax...