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NEUROPEPTIDE Y AND MESENTERIC SYMPATHETIC VASOCONSTRICTION IN PREGNANT AND NON‐PREGNANT WISTAR‐KYOTO RATS
Author(s) -
Chu ZM,
Beilin LJ
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1440-1681
pISSN - 0305-1870
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1681.1998.tb02266.x
Subject(s) - vasoconstriction , neuropeptide y receptor , endocrinology , medicine , mesenteric arteries , sympathetic nervous system , pregnancy , neuropeptide , blood pressure , receptor , biology , artery , genetics
SUMMARY 1. We have investigated the role of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in sympathetic vasoconstriction and its possible contribution to decreased mesenteric vasoconstrictor responses to electrical field stimulation (EFS) in pregnancy in vivo using an in situ blood‐perfused mesenteric preparation in 18‐20 day pregnant and age‐matched non‐pregnant Wistar‐Kyoto (WKY) rats. 2. Mean blood pressure (BP) was decreased in pregnant compared with non‐pregnant rats. Mesenteric basal perfusion pressure (PP) was not significantly reduced in pregnancy. BIBP 3226, a specific NPY Yi receptor antagonist, did not affect mean BP or mesenteric basal PP in pregnant or non‐pregnant animals. 3. Mesenteric vasoconstrictor responses to EFS were blunted in pregnant compared with non‐pregnant controls. BIBP 3226 significantly suppressed mesenteric vasoconstrictor responses to EFS in both pregnant and non‐pregnant animals. Decreased mesenteric responses to EFS in pregnancy were still evident following NPY Yi receptor blockade. 4. These results suggest that endogenous NPY plays a role in rat mesenteric sympathetic vasoconstriction in vivo. However, NPY is unlikely to be responsible for the impairment of EFS‐induced mesenteric vasoconstriction in pregnant WKY rats.