Wire/ Pressure/ Muscle Strip/ Organ Baths/ Advanced Langendorff

BASIC TISSUE PROPERTIES
Vascular smooth muscle function
Vascular endothelium function
Length-tension relationships (also motorized)
Wall tension & morphometric measurements
Assessment of pharmacological reactivity

TISSUES USED
Small and large arteries
Veins
Lymph vessels
Lung and tracheal smooth muscle
Urogenital, corpus cavernosum, bladder

VASOACTIVE MECHANISMS
Endothelium: role of endothelium-derived relaxing factor (NO), prostaglandins and endothelium-derived hyperpo-larizing factor (EDHF)
Smooth muscle: role of calcium and potassium and other ion channels
Perivascular and intramural nerves: role of endogenously released transmitters

PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACOTHERAPY
Quantify the effect of treatment with contractile and relaxing agents
Receptor studies, localization and characterization of receptors
Affinity & efficacy studies of agonists & antagonists
Drug studies efficiency & efficacy, drug discovery & safety pharmacology

PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES& PATHOLOGY
Hypertension
Atherosclerosis
Diabetes
Ageing
Ischemic heart disease & heart failure
Tumors & angiogenesis
Gastrointestinal & urogenital disease Pregnancy, preeclampsia
Exercise physiology, muscular degenerative diseases

FURTHER POSSIBILITIES
Electrophysiological experiments
Fluorescence measurements of intracellular ions and other substances