Fig. 2.

Immunohistochemical detection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the corpus cavernosum of control (C) (a), green tea (GT) (b) and green tea extract GTE (c) animals, presenting a scattered distribution over the smooth muscle fibres, particularly in those surrounding endothelium (arrow). As observed in (c) VEGF is decreased in the GTE group. VEGF receptor 1 (VEGFR1) was also detected by immunohistochemistry in perivascular smooth muscle fibres (arrow) and no marked differences were observed among the C (d), GT (e) and GTE (f) experimental groups. Immunohistochemical detection of VEGFR2 (g, h, i) was restricted to the endothelium (arrow) in all groups and expression was noticeably reduced in both GT- and GTE-treated animals (h and i) as compared to the C group (g). Bar 50 μm