title: The effect of length on the sensitivity to phenylephrine and calcium in intact and skinned vascular smooth muscle.
abstract: The length dependency of the sensitivity to activators of the smooth muscle of different blood vessels is not yet fully understood. Muscle preparations of the aorta, the femoral artery and the portal vein of the rabbit were investigated for the length dependency of the sensitivity to phenylephrine and calcium in both intact and triton X-100 skinned preparations. For intact smooth muscles we found that at increased preparation length, the sensitivity of contraction was increased. The femoral artery showed the largest effect and the portal vein the smallest. In the skinned preparations of the three preparations the calcium sensitivity was not dependent on the preparation length. We conclude that the changes of the sensitivity in intact preparations are not caused by changes of the calcium sensitivity of the contractile proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physiology and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Van Heijst
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Wit
authors.forename: U A
authors.initials: UA
authors.lastname: Van der Heide
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blangé
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jongsma
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: De Beer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010656:Phenylephrine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011817:Rabbits; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents; D010656:Phenylephrine; D002118:Calcium