Fig. 3
PCI34051 increases vascular relaxation in rat aortic rings and NO production in HUVECs. a Relaxation of aortic rings in response to PCI34051 was assessed in endothelium-intact and endothelium-denuded aortas. Relaxation is expressed as the percentage of the maximal contractile response to U46619. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 4 per group). b Endothelium-intact rat aortic rings were pretreated with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L- NAME, 10 μM or 100 μM) or vehicle for 30 min. When vascular contractions induced by U46619 (30 nM) reached a plateau, PCI34051 was added cumulatively to elicit relaxation. Data are presented as mean ± SEM (n = 4 per group). c HUVECs were treated with PCI34051 (1 μM) in the presence or absence of L-NAME (250 μM) for 24 h and then labeled with a fluorescent NO indicator, DAF-FM DA (2.5 μM), for 30 min. Three independent experiments were conducted and representative images are shown. Scale bar = 100 μm