Chronic treatment with 17beta-estradiol increases susceptibility of smooth muscle cells to nitric oxide.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of estrogen as a vasodilator or relaxing modulator during vascular tonus through chronic estrogen treatment. Experiments were conducted using isolated basilar arteries from ovariectomized female rabbits divided into two groups (the with and without estrogen replacement groups, respectively). Both acetylcholine and carbachol relaxed the basilar arteries of rabbits in the with estrogen replacement group (pre-contracted by 30 mM K(+)) more strongly than in the without estrogen replacement group.

Spontaneous rupture of the renal pelvis during pregnancy: a case report and review of the literature.

We report a case with spontaneous rupture of the renal pelvis during pregnancy. A 34-year-old Japanese woman was referred at 20 weeks' gestation because of sudden severe right flank pain. She had severe colic pain radiating to the right lower abdomen with percussion tenderness at the right costovertebral angle and was initially suspected to have renal/ureteral calculi.