Coronary vascular responsiveness to non-eicosanoid vasoconstrictors in the perfused diabetic rat heart

We tested arginine vasopressin, and a dihydropyridine calcium agonist, BAY K-8644 in isolated perfused hearts from control and diabetic rats. Arginine vasopressin (1-100 ng/ml) and BAY K-8644 (100-500 ng/ml) significantly increased coronary perfusion pressure during constant flow perfusion indicative of coronary vasoconstriction. However, no significant potentiation was observed between diabetic rats and their weight matched controls for either vasoconstrictor.