Myogenic response of rat femoral small arteries in relation to wall structure and [Ca(2+)](i).

The present study investigated the influence of media thickness on myogenic tone and intracellular calcium concentration (Ca(2+)) in rat skeletal muscle small arteries. A ligature was loosely tied around one external iliac artery of 5-wk-old spontaneously hypertensive rats. At 18 wk of age, femoral artery blood pressure was 102 +/- 11 mmHg (n = 15) on the ligated side and 164 +/- 6 mmHg (n = 15) on the contralateral side. Small arteries feeding the gracilis muscle had a reduced media cross-sectional area and a reduced media-to-lumen ratio on the ligated side, where also the range of myogenic constriction was shifted to lower pressures. However, when expressed as a function of wall stress, diameter responses were nearly identical. Ca(2+) was higher in vessels from the ligated hindlimb at pressures above 10 mmHg, but vasoconstriction was not accompanied by changes in Ca(2+). Thus the myogenic constriction here seems due primarily to changes in intracellular calcium sensitivity, which are determined mainly by the force per cross-sectional area of the wall and therefore altered by changes in vascular structure.