Figure 4.

Effect of thoracic irradiation and captopril therapy on pulmonary arterial distensibility (PAD). Values (mean±sem) measured at 2-months after exposure using microfocal computed tomography of intact, contrast filled arterial trees in isolated lung preparations. Drug therapy groups received captopril (17 or 56 mg/kg/d) immediately or delayed 2-weeks after irradiation. The vasoactive dose of captopril (56 mg/kg/d) mitigated radiation-induced decrease in PAD. (Number of rats in individual groups indicated on the bars, * p ≤ 0.047, ^ p ≤ 0.001, difference from bold marker).