[It is known that hypertension shows several gender specific elements both in pathogenesis and in therapy. Understanding this phenomenon may bring us closer to individualized therapy. That was the reason why we examined process of hypertensive adaptation on the level of small intramural coronary arteries. 10-10 male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. Animals received osmotic pumps in anaesthesia, which emitted 100 ng/bwkg/min angiotensin II acetate for four weeks. After four weeks treatment, animals were sacrified and heart weights were measured. We isolated intramural, small branches of the left anterior descendant coronary artery, placed them into vessel chamber and tested biomechanical properties and pharmacological reactivity. Heart weight and wall thickness were higher in females comparing to males. However, basal vascular tone and thromboxane-mediated vasoconstriction were elevated in males. Bradykinin relaxation was bigger in females. In female animals inward eutrophic remodeling was found, while in males increased wall stress and elastic moduli dominated the adaptation process. In conclusion, initial steps of angiotensin II mediated hypertension induced markedly gender dependent alterations.]
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