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Summary 1. There are known differences in the sensitivity to caffeine between skeletal muscle (soleus) of normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The present study was performed in order to examine differences in the effects of caffeine on twitch contraction between visceral striated muscle using the outer layer of the oesophagus from WKY rats and stroke-prone SHR (SHRSP). 2. Caffeine, at concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 10 mmol/L, exhibited potentiating effects on twitch contraction in preparations from both WKY rats and SHRSP. The potentiating effect of caffeine was markedly less prominent in preparations from SHRSP compared with preparations from WKY rats. 3. The rate of contraction and relaxation, the time to peak tension and 80% relaxation time were not significantly altered by caffeine at concentrations lower than 3 mmol/L in preparations from either strain. 4. With 10 mmol/L caffeine, the rate of relaxation was markedly reduced and the 80% relaxation time was prolonged, with no significant changes in the rate of contraction, in preparations from WKY rats. These changes were significantly smaller in preparations from SHRSP. 5. The duration of the action potential was greater in preparations from SHRSP than in preparations from WKY rats, although the membrane potential and the amplitude of the action potential were not significantly different between preparations from WKY rats and SHRSP. 6. Caffeine, at 10 mmol/L, prolonged the duration of the action potential in preparations from both strains. The effect of caffeine was not different between preparations from WKY rats and SHRSP. 7. The results of the present study suggest that caffeine augments release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) at low concentrations and attenuates Ca2+ re-uptake at 10 mmol/L. Decreased reactivity of SR to caffeine may be a cause of the lesser potentiation of twitch contraction by caffeine in preparations from SHRSP.

1. The time courses of the relaxation, induced by removal of extracellular Ca2+, of K-depolarized mesenteric artery preparations from stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were compared. 2. The time course of the decline in extracellular Ca2+ was estimated from the time course of the relaxation and the concentration-response curve of K+-depolarized preparations to Ca2+. The time course of the decline in the intracellular free Ca2+ concentration was also estimated from the reported relation between Ca2+ concentration and the contraction of skinned vascular smooth muscle. 3. The time course of relaxation was exponential, the curve being made up of three components. The time course was slower in preparations from SHRSP, especially the first component of the relaxation curve. 4. The time courses of the decline in the intracellular and extracellular Ca2+ concentrations were also exponential, being made up of three components and were also slower in the preparation made from SHRSP. 5. The wall and muscle layer of the mesenteric arteries used in the present experiments were significantly thicker in the SHRSP preparations. 6. Calculation of the half relaxation time, based on the diffusion of Ca2+ across the blood vessel wall, suggested that the slower relaxation in preparations from SHRSP is due largely to the thicker muscle layer, although differences in Ca2+ sequestration by the smooth muscle cells may also be involved.

Summary 1. Endothelium-dependent relaxation by a-adrenoceptor agonists was examined in the thoracic aorta from normoten-sive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). 2. In ring preparations from both strains, noradrenaline-induced contraction was increased by L-nitro arginine (L-NNA), a NO synthesis inhibitor. 3. L-NNA increased the contraction induced by phenyl-ephrine, an α1-adrenoceptor agonist. UK-14304 and clonidine, α2-adrenoceptor agonists, did not contract the preparations with intact endothelium. However, these agents contracted preparations when NO synthesis was inhibited. 4. In a precontracted preparation, clonidine and UK-14304 induced relaxations. The relaxations in SHRSP aorta were smaller than those in WKY aorta. 5. These results indicate that a-agonists release NO from endothelium in WKY and SHRSP aorta. The mechanism related to NO release by α2-adrenoceptor agonist is impaired in SHRSP aorta.