Table 2.

Carotid artery maximal diameter, incremental stiffness, phenylephrine-induced pre-constriction and sensitivity (IC₅₀) to acetylcholine in the absence or presence of the nitric oxide inhibitor, L-NAME and/or the superoxide dismutase mimetic, TEMPOL. Dose responses in the presence of TEMPOL were assessed in the contralateral arteries of the mice.

		Y NC	O NC	Y WD	O WD	Y WD-VR	O WD-VR
Maximal Diameter (μm)		408 ± 5	432 ± 8*	423 ± 5	439 ± 6*	423 ± 12	433 ± 12
Incremental Stiffness (AUs)		5.7 ± 0.6	8.5 ± 0.9*	7.6 ± 0.8*	9.5 ± 0.8*	8.1 ± 1.6	6.8 ± 0.5#
Pre-Constriction (%)	A	18 ± 1	22 ± 3	18 ± 2	18 ± 2	23 ± 3	23 ± 4
	A+L	29 ± 3‡	27 ± 3	28 ± 2‡	24 ± 2	32 ± 5	25 ± 5
	T+A	15 ± 2	14 ± 2§	13 ± 2§	14 ± 1§	17 ± 4	12 ± 2§
	T+A+L	21 ± 3	17 ± 2	20 ± 2‡	19 ± 2‡	14 ± 1	18 ± 3‡
IC50 (log M)	A	−8.2 ± 0.4	−8.0 ± 0.2	−8.1 ± 0.3	−7.4 ± 0.3	−7.6 ± 0.3	−8.0 ± 0.2
	A+L	−6.8 ± 0.3‡	−6.6 ± 0.3‡	−6.5 ± 0.4‡	−6.7 ± 0.2	−6.5 ± 0.5	−7.2 ± 0.6
	T+A	−7.9 ± 0.2	−8.6 ± 0.2	−7.3 ± 0.3	−7.7 ± 0.3	−8.0 ± 0.2	−8.0 ± 0.3
	T+A+L	−7.1 ± 0.4	−6.8 ± 0.4‡	−7.0 ± 0.4	−7.2 ± 0.3	−8.0 ± 0.3	−7.0 ± 0.5

Y: young; O: old; NC: normal chow; WD: western diet; VR: voluntary running; A: acetylcholine; L: L-NAME; T: TEMPOL;

^*Denotes difference from Y NC,

^†denotes difference from O NC,

^‡denotes difference after L-NAME,

^§denotes difference after TEMPOL,

^#denotes difference from age-matched cage-control WD fed mice, WD fed data presented as mean ± SEM, P<0.05