The human adrenergic neurovascular mechanism

The major features of adrenergic neurotransmission established in animals have been observed in one blood vessel or another from the human. However, the detailed mechanism in one particular human blood vessel or vascular sample from a particular regional bed has not yet been carefully compared with a corresponding vessel from nonhuman species. There is probably more known about cerebral blood vessels than others, and if our knowledge of this bed is at all representative of what occurs elsewhere, then any projections regarding the human from animal studies are potentially very misleading. The little evidence that is available suggests that generalization regarding human vessels is going to be difficult. Yet this very difficulty emphasizes the need for study, not only from the normal and healthy subject, but from the diseased. The human circulation represents a source of vascular tissue whose analysis will reveal much more about the circulation and its change with circumstances, including disease, of interest to the scientist and the physician than can ever be achieved by experimentation with animal tissues.