Responsiveness of isolated dog veins to bradykinin and other bioactive peptides: distribution of sensitivity to bradykinin and possible correlation with genesis of the venous system.

Contractile responses of isolated dog veins to bradykinin were studied. Responses to norepinephrine were taken as standards. According to their sensitivity to bradykinin, the veins obtained from 14 sites of the venous system were divided into two groups, while all the veins were almost uniform in their sensitivity to norepinephrine. One group has high sensitivity to bradykinin and the other has low sensitivity. The former includes the pulmonary, hepatic, splenic, and portal veins, the anterior vena cava, and the upper and the middle divisions of the posterior vena cava. The latter includes the external jugular, cephalic, azygos, femoral, and saphenous veins, and the lower division of the posterior vena cava. The responses of the renal vein were intermediate. A striking correlation was noted between the distribution of bradykinin sensitivity and the genesis of the venous system. Five bioactive peptides other than bradykinin were also studied. Only angiotensin induced contraction in some preparation, but, as a whole, caerulein, eledoisin-related peptide, oxytocin and vasopressin rarely showed contractile activity.