Endothelium dependent relaxation – contribution of the different factors.

<div><p>(<b>A</b>) The mean ± SEM acetylcholine-mediated endothelium dependent relaxation in the thoracic aorta of the non-pregnant saline infused rats after vehicle incubation (total relaxation; circle), after L-NMMA incubation (nitric oxide; square), after indomethacin incubation (prostaglandin; pyramid upward), and after L-NMMA and indomethacin incubation (EDHF; pyramid downward). The percentage relaxation was calculated as percentage of the pre-contraction with phenylephrine (PE).</p> <p>(<b>B</b>) The E_max of the endothelium dependent relaxation under the different conditions in the thoracic aorta from pregnant rats (P; left set of bars) and non-pregnant rats (NP; right set of bars) infused with saline (white bars) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS; black bars). Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *: p<0.05 vs E_max of the total relaxation within the same group of rats (Student <i>t</i>-test). α: p<0.05 vs P-saline; σ: p<0.1 vs P-saline (Two-way ANOVA). A trend towards a significant interaction between pregnancy and treatment (saline or LPS) was found for prostaglandin (p=0.09).</p>