Expression and Function of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Messenger RNA and Protein Are Higher in Internal Mammary Than in Radial Arteries Guo-Wei He, MD, DSc, Li Fan, MD, PhD, Kevin L. Grove, PhD, Anthony Furnary, MD, Qin Yang, MD, PhD The Annals of Thoracic Surgery Volume 92, Issue 3, Pages 845-850 (September 2011) DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2011.04.063 Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions
Fig 1 Expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) messenger RNA (mRNA) in (a) the whole tissue, (b) endothelial cell (EC), and (c) smooth muscle cell (SMC) of the human internal mammary artery (IMA, n = 7) and radial artery (RA) (n = 5 to 7) rings. Values are expressed as mean ± standard error. *p < 0.05 (unpaired t test). The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2011 92, 845-850DOI: (10.1016/j.athoracsur.2011.04.063) Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions
Fig 2 Immunoblotting with monoclonal antibody specific for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) was examined in (A) human internal mammary artery (IMA) and (B) radial artery (RA). Pictures were taken by using Meta Imaging software (Novell, metaMorph, 60X Oil) and modified by Photoshop with the same brightness and contrast (original magnification ×1.0). Immunohistochemistry demonstrated a higher immunoreactivity of eNOS protein produced in endothelial cells of human IMA than in that of RA. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2011 92, 845-850DOI: (10.1016/j.athoracsur.2011.04.063) Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions
Fig 3 Basal (n =11 in each group, white bars) and bradykinin (BK) stimulated (n = 6 in each group, black bars) release of nitric oxide (NO, concentration in nM) in internal mammary artery (IMA, n = 11) and radial artery (RA, n = 11), measured by an electrochemical method using the membrane-type NO-sensitive electrode. Data are shown as mean ± standard error of the mean. Basal: basal release of NO without stimulation. In IMA, the basal concentration of NO was 17.5 ± 1.9 nM, which was significantly greater than that in RA (10.2 ± 0.7 nM, p = 0.003). BK-induced: NO release induced by BK (–7 log M). NO release in the IMA was 31.5 ± 3.6 nM, which was significantly greater than that in RA (14.3 ± 5.3 nM, p = 0.02). *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 compared with RA. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2011 92, 845-850DOI: (10.1016/j.athoracsur.2011.04.063) Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions