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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Oct 2.
Published in final edited form as: Circulation. 2008 Sep 23;118(13):1347–1357. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.784298

Figure 6. Metabolic stress protects the endothelium from angiotensin II-mediated dysfunction.

Figure 6

Mice (C57Bl6) were infused with angiotensin II (ATII; 1.0 mg/kg/d) or vehicle (CTL) via osmotic minipumps for 7d and each group was also treated with AICAR (200 mg/kg/d) or vehicle by sc injection once daily. Aortae were harvested and assessed for (A) endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine, (B) superoxide by dihydroethidium staining (E=endothelium; A=adventitia), and (D) JNK activation as c-Jun phosphorylation; (*p<0.05 vs. vehicle alone; ‡P<0.05 vs. angiotensin II alone both by two-way ANOVA interaction term). Hearts were also harvested for (C) NADPH oxidase activity using NADPH-driven lucigenin chemiluminescence as described.22 Mice lacking α1-AMPK (E) or PGC-1α (F) and littermate controls were infused with angiotensin II or vehicle and each group was also treated with either AICAR or vehicle as in (A; *p<0.05 vs vehicle infusion).