Incidence of myoendothelial gap junctions in the proximal and distal mesenteric arteries of the rat is suggestive of a role in endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor-mediated responses.

Although the chemical nature of endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF) remains elusive, electrophysiological evidence exists for electrical communication between smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells suggesting that electrotonic propagation of hyperpolarization may explain the failure to identify a single chemical factor as EDHF. Anatomical evidence for myoendothelial gap junctions, or the sites of electrical coupling, is, however, rare. In the present study, serial-section electron microscopy and reconstruction techniques have been used to examine the incidence of myoendothelial gap junctions in the proximal and distal mesenteric arteries of the rat where EDHF responses have been reported to vary. Myoendothelial gap junctions were found to be very small in the mesenteric arteries, the majority being <100 nm in diameter. In addition, they were significantly more common in the distal compared with the proximal regions of this arterial bed. Pentalaminar gap junctions between adjacent endothelial cells were much larger and were common in both proximal and distal mesenteric arteries. These latter junctions were frequently found near the myoendothelial gap junctions. These results provide the first evidence for the presence of sites for electrical communication between endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells in the mesenteric vascular bed. Furthermore, the relative incidence of these sites suggests that there may be a relationship between the activity of EDHF and the presence of myoendothelial gap junctions.