Endothelium-dependent relaxation in response to histamine and ACh has been studied on precontracted aortic rings from control and salt-loaded Sprague-Dawley rats. Both ACh and histamine caused relaxation of the noradrenaline-induced precontraction only in the presence of the endothelium. The relaxation response to ACh in rings from control and salt-loaded rats did not differ significantly whereas histamine-induced relaxation was significantly attenuated in aortae from salt-loaded rats. The results suggest that salt-induced hypertension is associated with impairment of endothelium-dependent relaxation to histamine but not to ACh.

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