Topographic aspects of prostacyclin-like and fibrinolytic activity and of biogenic amines in the arterial system of the mini-pig.

Although arteriosclerosis is a systemic disease, it nevertheless exhibits noticeable topographical preference and particularities. The reason for this could be lie with certain biochemical features of the arterial wall. We therefore examined prostacyclin-like and fibrinolytic activity in mini-pigs, as well as the concentration of various biogenic amines in the thoracic and abdominal aorta, in coronary arteries and in the carotid and femoral artery. There was a similar behaviour between PG I2-like release and biogenic amines in the different arteries, whereas fibrinolytic activity behaved differently in some cases. In the femoral artery particularly low fibrinolytic activity was confronted by a particularly high level of PG I2-like activity and biogenic amines, while the reverse was the case in the abdominal aorta. In older animals PG I2-like activity considerably decreased.