title: Focus on vascular pharmacology.
abstract: At the joint meeting of the British Pharmacological Society and the Danish Society for Pharmacology and Toxicology, held July 6-8, 2004, in Bath, United Kingdom, the focus was vascular pharmacology. In the symposium on signaling pathways in vascular muscle, the topics included were the molecular structure of G-protein-coupled receptors, phosphoinositides and other lipid messengers, the regulation of vascular contractility by cyclic nucleotides, Ca(2+) channels in the kidney vasculature, conducted vascular responses and intracellular signaling in smooth muscle cell growth. Endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor was the subject of a symposium and many of the communications. There was discussion whether epoxyeicosatrienoic acids, K(+), C-type natriuretic peptide, hydrogen peroxide or gap junction were endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor. In the J.R. Vane Medal Lecture, Prof. P. Vanhoutte discussed endothelial dysfunction, and in the Anglo-Nordic Lecture, Prof. M. Mulvany discussed the pharmacology of hypertension. Finally, there was some discussion of whether antihypertensive drug response can be predicted on the basis of DNA microsequencing.
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, Australia. s_doggrell@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Sheila A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Doggrell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001685:Biological Factors / Q000502:physiology; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000145:classification / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D001685:Biological Factors; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents; C067410:endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization factor