title: Postmortem functional changes in coronary and cerebral arteries from humans and monkeys.
abstract: Contractile responses to 30 mmol . litre-1 K+ of helical strips of coronary arteries from human cadavers did not change within 5 h after death; however, they were suppressed 8 h after death. In coronary arteries from monkey cadavers, the K+-induced contractions did not significantly differ within the first 5 h, but were suppressed 12 h after death. On the other hand, K+-induced contractions were retained without deterioration in cerebral artery strips from human cadavers 20 to 24 h after death and those from monkey cadavers 8 to 16 h. Acetylcholine caused contractions of human coronary arteries, but caused only a relaxation of monkey coronaries which was abolished by rubbing off the endothelium. These responses were attenuated by no more than K+-induced contractions up to 12 h after death. Maximum contractions induced by noradrenaline, histamine and serotonin remained the same in human coronary arteries for 3 to 5 h after death. Similar magnitudes of contraction were elicited by noradrenaline in human cerebral arteries up to 20 h after death. It appears that the reactivity of human coronary arteries to K+ and other vasoconstrictor agents used is normally retained for at least 6 h after death and that of human cerebral arteries up to 24 h.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006632:Histamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008251:Macaca; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012701:Serotonin / Q000494:pharmacology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin; D006632:Histamine; D009638:Norepinephrine