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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Sep;56(3):537–548. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0b013e31829e5bc9

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2

Endothelial vasodilator function is depressed in fetal arteries. Postnatal maturation is associated with increase in both the abundance and specific activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). In addition, the shear stress produced by blood flow at the endothelial surface is much more potent at stimulating NO release in adult than in fetal arteries. Shown are results obtained from ovine carotid arteries and vertical error bars indicate SE for N≥6 in all cases. eNOS indicates endothelial nitric oxide synthase; NO, nitric oxide.11,12