Figure 5.

Effect of i.p. treatment with L-NIL or L-NIL + celecoxib on fundus nitrite levels, smooth muscle reactivity to Ach and c-kit expression. (A) Bar graph showing the effects of L-NIL treatment for 3 days on the average nitrite levels relative to that in Wt vehicle mice. Nitrite levels were significantly elevated in W/W^v mice compared to Wt but were significantly reduced in W/W^v and wild type mice by L-NIL treatment (^*p < 0.05 vs. wild type + vehicle; ^#p < 0.05 vs. W/W^v + vehicle). (B) Bar graph showing the effects of L-NIL treatment on fundus muscle sensitivity to acetylcholine (Ach). The reactivity to Ach was suppressed in W/W^v vs. the wild-type mice. Average contractility of strips from L-NIL treated W/W^v mice was consistently greater than those from vehicle treated mice at all Ach concentrations tested, but these differences did not reach statistical significance (^*p < 0.05 wild type + vehicle vs. W/W^v + vehicle; ^#p < 0.05 Wt + L-NIL vs. W/W^v + vehicle). (C) C-kit expression was not increased by L-NIL treatment in W/W^v mice. (D) Three-day treatment of W/W^v mice with a combination of celecoxib and L-NIL completely reversed the suppression of smooth muscle reactivity to Ach in W/W^v mice. N = 4 rats in each group. ^*P < 0.05 vs. wild-type mice (WT) vehicle; ^#P < 0.05 vs. W/W^v vehicle mice.