We investigated the effect of intraluminal pressure or stretch on the development of tone in the descending thoracic aorta from rats with aortic coarctation-induced hypertension of 7–14 days duration. Increments of pressure >100 mmHg decreased the diameter of thoracic aortas from hypertensive but not from normotensive rats. The pressure-induced constriction was not demonstrable in vessels superfused with calcium-free buffer. Stretched rings of aorta from hypertensive rats exhibited a calcium-dependent constrictor tone accompanied by elevated calcium influx that varied in relation to the degree of stretch. Blockers of l-type calcium channels and inhibitors of protein kinase C reduced both basal tone and calcium influx in aortic rings of hypertensive rats. Hence, the thoracic aorta of hypertensive rats expresses a pressure- and stretch-activated constrictor mechanism that relies on increased calcium influx throughl-type calcium channels via a protein kinase C-regulated pathway. The expression of such a constrictor mechanism is suggestive of acquired myogenic behavior.
Identification of an Integration Center for Cross-talk between Protein Kinase C and G Protein Modulation of N-type Calcium Channels