The renal microvascular responses of Wistar-Kyoto and spontaneously hypertensive rats to changes in perfusion pressure were compared using a juxtamedullary nephron microvascular preparation perfused in vitro with a physiological salt solution containing 5% albumin. In the spontaneously hypertensive rats, the internal diameters of arcuate and interlobular arteries and the proximal and distal afferent arterioles averaged 307±26, 52±2, 24±0.9, and 22±1.2 ftm, respectively, at 80 mm Hg. They were 18–35% smaller (p< 0.05) than the corresponding vessels measured in Wistar-Kyoto rats. In low calcium media, the arcuate and interlobular arteries and the proximal and distal afferent arterioles of spontaneously hypertensive rats exhibited a greater dilation than the vessels of Wistar-Kyoto rats. These observations suggest that the diameters of the preglomerular vasculature of the spontaneously hypertensive rats are reduced because of an elevated vascular tone rather than structural changes narrowing the lumen of these vessels. These results suggest that enhanced vascular tone in the preglomerular vasculature of juxtamedullary nephrons may contribute to the elevated renal medullary vascular resistance and resetting of the pressure-natriuretic relation previously observed in spontaneously hypertensive rats.