CALCA and hypertensive disorder: Kawasaki et al. (1990) found that reduced CGRP-containing nerves in SHRs contribute to the development and maintenance of hypertension, further supporting a protective role for CGRP in hypertension. Furthermore, ex vivo experiments, particularly in isolated arterial and mesenteric resistance vessels, have complemented the in vivo data to-date (Nelson et al., 1990; Kawasaki et al., 1998; Kawasaki et al., 1999).