We studied the effects of trazodone on arterial blood pressure in anesthesized guinea pigs, and on vascular responses in isolated thoracic aorta. Trazodone produced a concentration-dependent relaxation in phenylephrine-precontracted endothelium intact (+E) rings, but not in a KCl-precontracted aortic rings. These relaxant effects of trazodone on +E rings were siginificantly greater than those on denuded (-E) rings. The trazodone-induced relaxation was suppressed by gilbenclamide and tetrabutylammonium, but not by N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA), N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), methylene blue (MB), nifedipine, indomethacin, 2-nitro-4-carboxyphenyl-n,n-diphenylcarbamate (NCDC) and clotrimazole. In vivo, infusion of trazodone elicited a significant decrease in arterial blood pressure.

The vasorelaxant effect of serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine was investigated in rat isolated thoracic aorta. Fluoxetine induced a concentration-dependent relaxation in aorta precontracted with phenylephrine (PE) and KCl. These relaxations were suppressed by removal of the endothelium (-E) or pretreatment of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) and N(omega)-nitro-Larginine methyl ester (L-NAME), guanylate cyclase inhibitors, methylene blue (MB) and 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo [4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), and Ca²+ channel blockers, nifedipine and verapamil, in PE-precontracted +E rings.