Abstract
Summary
Hypertension was produced in rats by narrowing one renal artery and removing the opposite kidney. These rats were then divided into 2 evenly matched groups. The rats in one of the groups were almost cured of hypertension; the rats in the other group remained hypertensive. The amount of calcium in the walls of the mesenteric arterioles was compared in the two groups. The hypertensive group, on the average, had 13% more arteriolar calcium than the “normotensive” group (P=0.01). Since calcium is known to promote the contraction of the muscle protein, actomyosin, the increased calcium content in the hypertensive arterioles may be partially responsible for their narrowed lumens.
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