2 Summary 1. The effects of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (Escherichia coli 0111-B4; LPS) on coronary vascular tone were examined in the isolated perfused rat heart. The role of nitric oxide and/or prostaglandin products of the cyclooxygenase pathway in mediating the actions of LPS were also investigated. 2. Coronary vascular tone was raised and maintained by a continuous perfusion of the thromb...

OBJECTIVE This review is an account of the physiological issues involved in the effects of pH on vascular smooth muscle tone. The following criteria were considered when reviewing the literature: (i) the type of smooth muscle, i.e. either tonic or phasic, (ii) the source of the smooth muscle i.e. pulmonary, systemic, large artery, resistance artery, vein or cell line, (iii) the effects of chang...

The sphingolipid signaling pathway appears to play an important role in regulating vascular tone. We examined the effect of fumonisin B(1), a fungal toxin in corn that blocks ceramide synthase in the sphingolipid signaling pathway, on the ascending aortic impedance spectrum of pigs. Sixteen pigs were fed culture material containing fumonisin B(1) (20 mg/kg body wt) (n = 7) or a control diet (n ...

Growth hormone (GH) deficiency is associated with abnormal vascular reactivity and development of atherosclerosis. GH treatment in GH deficient states restores systemic vascular resistance, arterial compliance, endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilation, and may reverse markers of early atherosclerosis. However, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying ...

nitric oxide (no) is implicated as an important mediator of, or intermediary in, inflammation, immunity and neurotransmission. in the kidney, no is involved in haemodynamic regulation, control of vascular tone and tubular function. formation of oxygen-derived free radicals (ofr) have been documented in renal ischaemia- reperfusion before. in this study , we investigated the significance of no f...

Cyclosporine and in particular oxidatively modified low density lipoproteins can both exert direct vasoconstricting effects. We hypothesized that coincubation of arteries with low density lipoproteins and cyclosporine would enhance their respective influence on vascular tone. Therefore, we investigated vascular reactivity of isolated intact rabbit renal arteries preincubated with cyclosporine i...

Rationale: Myogenic tone, an important regulator of vascular resistance, is dependent on vascular smooth muscle (VSM) depolarization, can be modulated by endothelial factors, and is increased in several models of hypertension. Intermittent hypoxia (IH) elevates blood pressure and causes endothelial dysfunction. Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S), a recently described endothelium-derived vasodilator, is p...