THE ANTITUMOR AGENT, TAXOL, ATTENUATES CONTRACTILE ACTIVITY IN RAT AORTIC SMOOTH-MUSCLE

Using 16-20 week old female spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), th e effects of the antitumor agent, taxol, on vascular reactivity were e xamined. Taxol significantly inhibited contraction induced by phenylep hrine, angiotensin II, phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate and increasing concent rations of calcium. The data suggest that taxol does not augment hyper sensitivity of the vascular, but instead attenuates contractile activi ty and may have important implications with respect to treatment of wo men with both cancer and cardiovascular disease.