Extended Data Fig. 10. PHM does not lower blood pressure in SHRSPs, but decreases AT1R expression in RVLM astrocytes during the plateau phase of hypertension development.
a, Schematic representation of the experimental protocol to analyse the effects of PHM. b,c, Time courses (b) and values on Day 29 (c) of MAP in SHRSPs, subjected to either daily PHM or anaesthesia only (b: P > 0.9999 for Day 15, Day 22, and Day 29. c: P = 0.9167. n = 8 rats for each group). d, Micrographic images of anti-GFAP for glial fibrillary protein-positive astrocytes (green), anti-AT1R for angiotensin II type 1 receptor (red), and anti-NeuN for mature neurons (blue) immunostaining of the RVLM of SHRSPs, either left sedentary (top) or subjected to PHM (bottom) under anaesthesia (30 min/day, 28 days). Arrows point to anti-AT1R immunosignals that overlap with anti-GFAP, but not anti-NeuN, immunosignals in merged images. Three images for PHM (−) are from a particular section of a rat whereas those for PHM (+) are from a different individual rat. Scale bar, 50 µm. Images are representative of three rats. e,f, Quantification of AT1R-positive astrocytes (e) and neurons (f) in the RVLM of SHRSPs, either left sedentary or subjected to PHM. One-hundred GFAP-positive (GFAP+) cells (e) and 50 NeuN-positive (NeuN+) cells (f) were analysed for each rat (e: P = 0.0173. f: P = 0.7812. n = 3 rats for each group). Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. *P < 0.05; NS, not significant; two-way repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post hoc multiple comparisons test (b) or unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test (c,e,f).