“…negative logarithm of the molar concentration of antagomst that produces a twofold rightward shift oF a concentration-response curve; pECs0 , negative logarithm of ECs0; PGF2, prostaglandin Fz~; PGIy prostaglandin I z INTRODUCTION Species differences in the in vitro responsiveness of basilar arteries to histamine have been reported• Basilar arteries from dogs (Konishi et al, 1981;Abrol and Cook, 1984), guinea-pigs (Chang et al, 1988), rabbits (Ohashi et aL, 1985), pigs (Miyamoto and Nishio, 1993) and humans (Shibata et al, 1975) respond to histamine with contractions, whereas those from rats (Chang et al, 1988) and monkeys (Toda, 1990) respond with relaxations. Such differences in responsiveness may depend on different distributions of H 1-and H2-receptors on smooth-muscle or endothelial cells (Sercombe et al, 1986;Chang et al, 1988;Toda, 1990;Benedito et al, 1991), which are responsible for the release of nitric oxide (Palmer et aL, 1987) and prostaglandin 12 (PGI2) , Ea Kirn et al, 1988).…”