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Calcitonin-gene related peptide in blood vessels of the rat
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CALClTONIN-GENE RELATED PEPTIDE IN BLOOD VESSELS OF THE RAT
PK MULDERRY, MA GHATEI, J RODRIGO, JM ALLEN, MG ROSENFELD*, JM POLAK and SR BLOOM, Departments of Medicine and Histochemistry, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Du Cane Road, London ~I12, UK and *Division of Endocrinology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. Calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP), a putative neuropeptide, has been reported to have potent effects on blood pressure when administered to rats, suggesting a role in cardiovascular regulation. The purpose of this study was to find further evidence of this role by investigating the d i s t r i b u t i o n of CGRP in blood vessels by radioimmunoassay and immunocytochemistry. For radioimmunoassay, rat arterial blood vessel tissues were boiled in O.5M acetic acid to extract peptides and CGRP concentrations in the extracts were determined with an antiserum raised in rabbits against synthetic CGRP. For immunocytochemistry, tissues were fixed in p-benzoquinone in phosphatebuffered saline, sectioned and studied by indirect immunofluorescence. CGRP concentrations in pmol/g tissue were: heart ( l e f t v e n t r i c l e ) :
CALClTONIN-GENE RELATED PEPTIDE IN BLOOD VESSELS OF THE RAT
PK MULDERRY, MA GHATEI, J RODRIGO, JM ALLEN, MG ROSENFELD*, JM POLAK and SR BLOOM, Departments of Medicine and Histochemistry, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Du Cane Road, London ~I12, UK and *Division of Endocrinology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA. Calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP), a putative neuropeptide, has been reported to have potent effects on blood pressure when administered to rats, suggesting a role in cardiovascular regulation. The purpose of this study was to find further evidence of this role by investigating the d i s t r i b u t i o n of CGRP in blood vessels by radioimmunoassay and immunocytochemistry. For radioimmunoassay, rat arterial blood vessel tissues were boiled in O.5M acetic acid to extract peptides and CGRP concentrations in the extracts were determined with an antiserum raised in rabbits against synthetic CGRP. For immunocytochemistry, tissues were fixed in p-benzoquinone in phosphatebuffered saline, sectioned and studied by indirect immunofluorescence. CGRP concentrations in pmol/g tissue were: heart ( l e f t v e n t r i c l e ) :