Vascular smooth muscle reactivity to rabbit aorta contracting substance (RCS) and production of prostacyclin-like substance in normotensive and hypertensive rats.

Male SHR of young prehypertensive (5-6 weeks) and mature hypertensive (24-28 weeks) ages and age and sex matched control normotensive Wistar rats (NWR) were studied for aortic smooth muscle contractility in response to rabbit aorta contracting substance (RCS), serotonin, norepinephrine and potassium. Production of prostacyclin (PGI2) in SHR and NWR aortae of these two age groups was also compared. The contractility of young SHR in response to the agonists was all depressed as compared with the matched NWR. With age advances to 24-28 weeks, aortic responsiveness of NWR to all agonists were reduced and the contractility became the same for SHR and NWR except for the response to RCS which was now greater in SHR than in NWR. The PGI2-like substance released from young SHR aortae was the same as that from the matched NWR. The PGI2-like substance in mature aged rat aortae was much higher than that in young rat aortae and the activity in mature SHR was 1.8 times higher than that of the age matched NWR. The increased production of PGI2-like substance in aorta walls of the mature aged SHR may be a compensatory mechanism to reduce the elevated blood pressure.