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Time course of decrease in blood pressure and in blood pressure response to vasopressor agents during pregnancy in the rat

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Summary

In the unanesthetized normotensive rat blood pressure progressively decreased during the last week of pregnancy as measured with a direct and an indirect method. In renal hypertensive and desoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertensive rats blood pressure also decreased at this time. In the unanesthetized normotensive rat the blood pressure response to exogenous rat renin diminished progressively during the last week of pregnancy. Similarly, the blood pressure response to angiotensin II, noradrenaline and tyramine decreased. The decrease in blood pressure induced by acetylcholine was not affected during pregnancy. Determination of the activity of the renin-angiotensin system showed that plasma renin activity was elevated to 3–4 times the control value on day 20–21 of pregnancy, and that plasma renin substrate was decreased on day 14–15. It is suggested that the decrease in blood pressure which occurs during the last week of pregnancy in the rat is mediated through a decreased responsiveness of the cardiovascular system to vasopressor agents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rudolf Magnus Institute for Pharmacology, Medical Faculty, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

    A. Herbert Teeuw & Wybren de Jong

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  1. A. Herbert Teeuw
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  2. Wybren de Jong
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Teeuw, A.H., de Jong, W. Time course of decrease in blood pressure and in blood pressure response to vasopressor agents during pregnancy in the rat. Pflugers Arch. 341, 197–208 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00592789

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00592789

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