Table 3.

Effect of a low oxygen environment on mean production rates of H₂S from homogenates of rat liver, rat intrauterine tissues and human placenta (nM/min/g) in the presence and absence (negative control) of 10 mM L-cysteine.

Tissue	Treatment	H2S production rate (nM/min/g)			Significance
		Mean	SD	n
Rat liver	-ve control	4.0	3.5	4
	L-cysteine	331	269	4
	Low O2	454	205	4	P < 0.05
Rat uterus	-ve control	0	0	4
	L-cysteine	405	432	4
	Low O2	606	620	4	P < 0.05
Rat placenta	-ve control	0	0	4
	L-cysteine	20	10.9	4
	Low O2	17.1	11.2	4	NS
Rat fetal membranes	-ve control	0	0	4
	L-cysteine	146	120	4
	Low O2	490	218	4	P < 0.05
Human placenta	-ve control	0	0	4
	L-cysteine	200	102	4
	Low O2	397	326	4	P < 0.05

A value of 0 indicates below the level of detection.