Fig. 1.
Effect of serum amyloid A (SAA) on vasomotor function in porcine coronary arteries. Porcine coronary arteries were treated with SAA (1, 10, and 25 μg/ml) or with DMSO as a control for 24 h. A: maximal contraction of porcine coronary artery rings in response to U-46619 (3 × 10−8 M). B: precontracted vessels were tested for endothelium-dependent relaxation by adding a series of concentrations of bradykinin (10−9–10−5 M). C: endothelium-independent relaxation in response to sodium nitroprusside (SNP; 10−6 M). n = 11. D: effect of NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) on endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in response to bradykinin. The SAA (10 μg/ml)-treated vessel ring was treated with l-NAME (100 μm) for 30 min before precontraction with U-46619 started. n = 5. *P < 0.05, control (DMSO) compared with SAA; #P < 0.05 SAA compared with l-NAME or l-NAME + SAA.