background: the vascular function of angiotensin ii-type-2 receptors in adults is controversial. we sought their location and function in mouse aortic rings at young and old mice. materials and methods: male c57bl mice (aged 4 and 14 months) were killed by co2. the descending thoracic aorta was cleaned and dissected into rings. aortic rings were mounted in krebs’ solution at 37 °c and then setu...

Abstract Copeptin, a glycosylated peptide fragment derived from the C-terminal region of precursor arginine8 vasopressin (AVP), is co-secreted with AVP in equimolar amounts. Elevated plasma modulates gastric motility so we investigated whether copeptin had similar effect. Copeptin (10-9-10-7M), and (10-12-10-5M), were evaluated for their ability to modulate spontaneous electrically-evoked (EFS)...

Protein kinase C (PKC) is involved in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle contraction. However, the role of PKC in erectile function is poorly understood. This study investigated whether PKC mediates agonist-induced contractions in mouse penile tissue (corpora cavernosa). We also compared the effects of PKC activators and inhibitors on contractile responses in mouse corpus cavernosum with ...

The hemodynamic conditions of aorta are relatively uniform prenatally and become more heterogeneous postnatally. Our objective was to quantify the heterogeneity of geometry and mechanical properties during growth and development. To accomplish this objective, we obtained a systematic set of data on the geometry and mechanical properties along the length of mouse aorta during postnatal developme...

Genetically altered mice are increasingly used as experimental models. However, ANG II responses in mouse blood vessels have not been well defined. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the role of ANG II in regulating major blood vessels in C57/BL6J mice with isometric force measurements. Our results showed that in mouse abdominal aorta ANG II induced a concentration-dependent cont...

Some pathological conditions may affect osmolarity, which can impact cell, tissue, and organ volume. The hypothesis of this study is that changes in osmolarity affect the zero-stress state and mechanical properties of the aorta. To test this hypothesis, a segment of mouse abdominal aorta was cannulated in vivo and mechanically distended by perfusion of physiological salt (NaCl) solutions with g...

In rodents, angiotensin (Ang) II type-1 (AT1) receptors exist as two pharmacologically identical subtypes: AT1a and AT1b. Recent studies have utilized mouse models with specific subtype receptor deletions to differentiate the functional difference between AT1 subtypes. However, little information is available on AT1 subtype expression in mouse vasculature. Therefore, in this study, AT1a-/- mice...

OBJECTIVE The hemodynamic environment is a determinant of susceptibility to atherosclerosis in the vasculature. Although mouse models are commonly used in atherosclerosis studies, little is known about local variations in wall shear stress (WSS) in the mouse and whether the levels of WSS are comparable to those in humans. The objective of this study was to determine WSS values in the mouse aort...