Table 1.

Effect of methyl mercury chloride treatment of rats on maximum response (R _max⁡) and sensitivity (pD2) to acetylcholine, sodium nitroprusside, and isoproterenol in endothelium intact aortic rings.

	ACh		SNP		IP
	R max⁡	pD2	R max⁡	pD2	R max⁡	pD2
Untreated	52.7 ± 2.8	−7.4 ± 0.2	84.2 ± 2.8	−8.4 ± 0.1	59.0 ± 7.3	−7.7 ± 0.2
Methyl mercury chloride treated	70.4 ± 2.9*	−6.9 ± 0.1	84.4 ± 2.5	−8.2 ± 0.1	61.2 ± 4.0	−6.4 ± 0.3

Results are expressed as % of the previous contraction to phenylephrine and pD2 is expressed as −log one half; *P < 0.05 versus untreated.