The Effect of Functionally Induced Changes of Wall/Lumen Ratio on the Vasoconstrictor Response to Standard Amounts of Vasoactive Agents

It has recently been suggested that the functionally induced increase in wall/lumen ratio, obtained whenever vascular tone is increased, might explain the vascular ‘hyperresponsiveness’ seen in hypertensive disease. The present experiments indicate, however, that this is not the case, presumably because the smooth muscle shortening to a given excitatory stimulus gets smaller the higher the initial tone is. To create a structurally based vascular ‘hyperresponsiveness’ a true increase of the wall mass of the resistance vessels is a necessary prerequisite.