[Effect of a glycolysis block in the vascular wall on the phasic activity of smooth muscles].

A study was made of contractile reactions of spontaneously active smooth muscles of the portal vein during selective inhibition of glycolysis. Use was made of monoiodoacetate to inhibit first phasic and then tonic contractions of the vascular smooth muscles (VSM). Combined use of monoiodoacetate and pyruvate selectively inhibited phasic activity alone. A hypothesis is advanced as to the role played by the glycolytic oscillator as the triggering mechanism by which rhythmic phasic contractile activity is formed.