THE RELATIONSHIP OF HUMAN SAPHENOUS-VEIN SMOOTH-MUSCLE CONTRACTILE RESPONSES TO DONOR AGE AND GENDER

The smooth muscle contractile properties of 100 human saphenous veins derived from healthy tissue and organ donors were investigated. No sig nificant changes in the contractile responses of saphenous veins to po tassium chloride, serotonin, and norepinephrine were associated with a ge. In contrast, comparison of contractile responses between males and females demonstrated significantly less response to potassium chlorid e in female veins (P<0.05). Female contractile responses to serotonin (P=0.74) and norepinephrine (P=0.29) did not differ significantly when compared with male responses. These observations support the conclusi on that gender may be an important variable in saphenous vein biology.