[Experiences with isolated organ studies on pathological human arteries].

Pathological, muscular arteries (common and superficial femoral [FC, FS], anterior and posterior tibial [TA, TP] arteries) of patients suffering from arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO), thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO), and diabetes mellitus (DIA), removed during amputation of the lower limb were studied as isolated organs. The vessels were cut into transverse rings and contractile force was measured isometrically. The total number of used rings was 828. The following agonists were applied: KCl (80 mM), serotonin (5-HT) (10 microM), prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) (0.1 mM) or phenylephrine (PE) (10 microM). It was established that applying KCl, 5-HT or PGF2 alpha, the majority of arterial rings display a contraction, but most of the preparations (66%) give no response against PE. The measure of contraction depends on the diagnosis (TAO greater than ASO greater than DIA), on the age of patient and also the anatomical location of the artery in the case of TAO (TP greater than greater than TA), on the associated hypertension in the case of ASO (normotensive greater than hypertensive) and finally on the time elapsed between the operation and usage of preparation if the agonist is KCl. As a conclusion, despite the terminal clinical stage the majority of studied human arteries retained at least a part of their functional integrity.