Parathyroid hormone-related protein-induced relaxation of rat uterine arteries: influence of the endothelium during gestation.

Objective: Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) has been reported to relax different vessels. We investigated the influence of both endothelium and gestation on the relaxation of uterine arteries (UA), which supply blood to myometrium and placenta.

Methods: Small uterine and mesenteric arteries (MA) with (E+) and without endothelium (E-) from day 20 pregnant (P) and nonpregnant (NP) rats were mounted in a myograph, precontracted with phenylephrine (PE) in a physiologic salt solution.

Effect of i1 imidazoline receptor agonist, moxonidine, in nitric oxide-deficient hypertension in pregnant rats.

Decreased nitric oxide production has been reported in preeclampsia, which is also frequently associated with glucose intolerance. It was thus considered of interest to investigate the effects of moxonidine, a centrally acting antihypertensive drug that reduces insulin resistance, in a rat model of preeclampsia. Hypertension was induced in Wistar rats by dietary l-NNA (N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine, 0.

Maturation reveals a decrease in endothelium-dependent contraction induced by depolarization in the aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The influence of the endothelium on aortic contractility to KCl 100 mM was studied during maturation and aging in normotensive Wistar and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). In Wistar rats, there was no significant difference in maximal responses in the course of aging whether the endothelium was present (E+) or not (E-). A similar result was obtained in SHR E- rings.

Hypotensive effect of endothelin-1 in nitric oxide-deprived, hypertensive pregnant rats.

Both nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) are important mediators in the regulation of vascular tone during pregnancy and preeclampsia. This study was designed to investigate the ET-1-induced hypotensive effect in late pregnant rats (P) and in NO-deprived hypertensive pregnant rats (TP), a model of preeclampsia. From day 13 of pregnancy Wistar rats were fed a control or an N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine-enriched diet.

[Nitric oxide and isolated aortic contraction in a pregnant hypertension model by the inhibition of nitric oxide synthase in pregnant Wistar rats].

During gestation endothelium induces decreases in vascular responses to vasopressor agents but endothelium disease is followed by hypertension and enhanced vascular reactivity during preeclampsia. In a rat model of preeclampsia induced by NO synthase inhibition we study here isolated aortic contractions. From day 13 of gestation 2 groups of Wistar female rats were fed control (C) or nitro-arginine enriched diets (0.