Figure 3. Prior preeclampsia results in sensitivity to post-partum hypertensive stimuli in mice.

(A) Timeline of post-partum hypertensive stimuli protocol with baseline measurements on standard chow (0.5% NaCl) taken at two months post-partum. Mice were then subjected to 2%NaCl diet for one week, a week of washout, 4% NaCl for one week, a week of washout, and then one week of Angiotensin II (AngII) infusion (600ng/kg/day). The area under the SBP curve quantifies the change in BP response to 1 week exposure to: (B) 2% NaCl (Control n=6, sFlt1 n=7, p=9.5x10⁻¹ via Mann-Whitney test), (C) 4% NaCl (Control n=6, sFlt1 n=6, p value determined by unpaired t-test), and (D) AngII infusion compared to each individual mouse’s baseline SBP (Control n=5, sFlt1 n=5, p value determined by unpaired student t test.) (E) Plasma Aldo at the end of pregnancy, two months post-partum and after repeated hypertensive stimuli. Control pregnant n=7, sFlt1 pregnant n=8, Control post-partum n=8, sFlt1 post-partum n=6, Control AngII n=8, sFlt1 AngII n=6, p value determined by Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn post hoc. (F) Ex vivo microvascular mesenteric artery vasoconstriction to AngII. Control n=7, sFlt n=9, p values determined by 2 way repeated measures mixed effects model, Sidak post hoc test.