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Adenosine response on pial arteries, influence of CO2 and blood pressure

  • Heart, Circulation, Respiration and Blood; Environmental and Exercise Physiology
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Abstract

The television image-splitting technique was used to study the influence of arterialpCO2 and blood pressure on the dilatatory response of pial arterioles to topically applied adenosine in chloralose anaesthetised cats. At normocapnia (pCO2≃35 mm Hg) 10−5 adenosine caused pial arteriole dilatation of 29.2 ±2.7% (S.E.M.). This was significantly reduced to 14.5±1.6% (P<0.001) atpCO2 25 mm Hg and to 8.5±1.6% (P<0.001) atpCO2 48 mm Hg. Lowering the blood pressure to 65–85 mm Hg had no significant effect on the adenosine response, but raising the blood pressure to 140–160 mm Hg significantly reduced the adenosine response to 22.1±1.8% (P<0.05). The response was independent of vessel size except at hypertension where vessels<150 μm were significantly more reactive than the larger vessels (P<0.01). These results indicate that adenosine induced vasodilatation of pial arterioles shows little change in the face of alterations in vessel tone induced by altering blood pressure, but is markedly decreased by the combination of changing perivascular pH and vascular resistance through moderate changes in arterialpCO2. The importance of these results in assessing the role of adenosine as a cerebral vasodilator is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wellcome Surgical Institute, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Bearsden Road, Bearsden, G61 1QH, Glasgow, UK

    Peter C. Gregory, Donald P. J. Boisvert & A. Murray Harper

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  1. Peter C. Gregory
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  2. Donald P. J. Boisvert
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  3. A. Murray Harper
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Additional information

This study was supported by the Medical Research Council of Great Britain. D. P. J. Boisvert was supported by a Medical Research Council of Canada Fellowship

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Gregory, P.C., Boisvert, D.P.J. & Harper, A.M. Adenosine response on pial arteries, influence of CO2 and blood pressure. Pflugers Arch. 386, 187–192 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00584207

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00584207

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