... aortic rings were mounted in an organ bath for isometric tension measurements. Elastin peptides (ĸ-elastin) were added in the concentration range of 0.1 ng/ml to 1 µg/ml, concentrations similar to those found in the circulating blood. In rat aortic rings, precontracted or not with noradrenaline (10 –6 M...

..., compared to phenylephrine preconstricted vessels (log[EC 50 ] of –7.82 ± 0.01 and –7.10 ± 0.02, respectively, p < 0.05). Dose-response curves to papaverine (3–30 µ M ) in rings preconstricted with vasopressin and phenylephrine were comparable. When aortic rings were pretreated with lemakalim (0.1 µ M...