Differential effect of hypothermia on the vascular tone and reactivity of the human coronary artery and graft vessels
Hypothermia may contribute to vascular spasm during bypass surgery. The effect of cooling on the reactivity of the human coronary artery (CA), saphenous vein (SV) and internal mammary artery (IMA) was studied in vitro. In CA and IMA cooling diminished the resting tension and the contraction to potassium, noradrenaline and 5-hydroxytryptamine. In contrast, in SV the contraction to noradrenaline and