Endothelin-1: contractile responses and autoradiographic localization of receptors in rabbit blood vessels.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) elicits a contractile response from intact and endothelium-denuded rings of rabbit aorta and carotid artery. At low doses of ET-1, the response is attenuated in the presence of endothelium. The specific receptors that mediate the contractile response are located by autoradiography on the vascular smooth muscle although the decrease in response in intact rings may imply that they are also present on the endothelium.