Comparison of the in vitro effects of prazosin, nifedipine, and dihydralazine in isolated human mesenteric and crural vessels.

The inhibitory and relaxing effects of prazosin, nifedipine, and dihydralazine on contractions induced by noradrenaline (NA), or potassium (K+), were investigated in isolated human crural and mesenteric arteries and veins. Vascular ring preparations were suspended in organ baths and isometric tension was recorded. Prazosin was the most potent of the drugs in counteracting NA-induced contractions in all types of vessels except crural veins, in which the effect of nifedipine was the more pronounced. On K+-induced contractions prazosin was completely devoid of relaxing or inhibitory effects, whereas nifedipine was by far the most effective of the investigated drugs. Nifedipine had a more marked effect in venous than in arterial preparations from the peripheral circulation, but no such difference was seen in mesenteric vessels. Dihydralazine was found to have a very low potency in all types of vessels, and no difference between the effects on arterial and venous preparations was found. The results suggest that the in vitro effects of prazosin, nifedpine, and dihydralazine are different from those observed in vivo. Thus, the balance between the effects on arteries and veins in vitro was quite different from those reported in clinical studies on the three vasodilatators. The results give no support to the hypothesis of an unspecific vasodilatating effect of prazosin. The clinical usefulness of dihydralazine cannot be explained from the poor in vitro effects of the unmetabolized drug.