A guide to wire myography.

Wire myography is an in vitro technique that allows us to examine functional responses and vascular reactivity of isolated small resistance arteries. Vessels from various species, including transgenic models, and vascular beds can be examined in a variety of pathological disease states. Vessels are dissected, cleaned, and then mounted onto a four-channel myograph under isometric techniques. Each vessel is then normalized to determine maximum active tension development. This allows the standardization of initial experimental conditions, an important consideration when examining pharmacological differences between vessels.