Circulation research
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Circulation research · Jan 1991
Comparative StudyTwo arterial effective reflecting sites may appear as one to the heart.
The relation between reflected waves and features of ascending aortic pressure waveforms and impedance patterns was investigated with a modified T-tube model of the systemic arterial circulation. Ascending aortic pressure and flow and descending aortic flow were measured in 10 dogs under basal conditions and under the effect of an agent (methoxamine) that caused vasoconstriction and an increase of mean aortic pressure. A broad range of aortic pressure amplitudes and features was obtained. ⋯ This happened because body-end reflected waves peaked corresponding to a minimum of the head-end reflected wave. In group D, a diastolic fluctuation in aortic pressure was absent because the body-end reflected wave moved into systole and superimposed on the head-end reflected wave. This superimposition was due to increased pulse wave velocity in the body transmission path as a result of decreased arterial distensibility.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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Circulation research · Jan 1991
Different activation of the endothelial L-arginine and cyclooxygenase pathway in the human internal mammary artery and saphenous vein.
The endothelium releases substances controlling vascular tone and platelet function. We investigated mediators of endothelium-dependent responses in human internal mammary arteries and saphenous veins. The inhibitor of nitric oxide formation, NG-monomethyl L-arginine, enhanced the sensitivity to norepinephrine (fivefold) and evoked more pronounced endothelium-dependent contractions in internal mammary arteries (19 +/- 6% of 100 mM KCl) than in saphenous veins (2 +/- 1%; p less than 0.005). ⋯ Indomethacin and the thromboxane synthetase inhibitor CGS-13080 augmented relaxations of saphenous veins to acetylcholine from 24 +/- 11% to 46 +/- 9% (p less than 0.05). Histamine-evoked contractions were converted to endothelium-dependent relaxations by indomethacin and the thromboxane A2/endoperoxide receptor antagonist SQ-30741 (38 +/- 3% and 40 +/- 6%; p less than 0.05) but not CGS-13080. Thus, 1) nitric oxide mediates endothelium-dependent relaxations in human arteries and veins; 2) internal mammary arteries release more nitric oxide than do saphenous veins, and 3) in saphenous veins, the effects of nitric oxide are reduced by endothelium-derived contracting factors originating from the cyclooxygenase pathway.