Figure 5.

Effect of astragaloside IV (AS-IV) on angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced production of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines including TNF-α (A), IL-6 (B), and MCP-1 (C) in endothelial cells. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were preincubated with AS-IV (30 µmol/L) or sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 30 µmol/L) in the presence or absence of N^G-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA, 1 mmol/L), LY294002 (10 µmol/L), or ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA, 500 nmol/L) for 1 h and then incubated with Ang II (1 µmol/L) for an additional 6 h. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay was used to assay the concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines in the culture medium. ⁣^∗p < 0.05 compared with the control group; †p < 0.05 compared with HUVECs exposed to Ang II in the presence of AS-IV.