Fig. 1.

Hypoxia decreases sGCβ₁ subunit expression and NO-stimulated sGC activity in mouse lung. (A) Western blot analysis and quantification of sGCβ₁ subunit expression in lungs, kidneys and hearts of mice exposed to hypoxia for 72 hours or 120 hours. Expression levels are normalized to β-actin and expressed as the means ± s.e.m. (n = 4; *P<0.05, **P<0.01 versus control). (B) Immunohistochemical microscopy to assess sGCβ₁ subunit expression in lungs of mice exposed to normoxia and hypoxia for 72 hours or 120 hours. Arrowheads indicate the sGCβ₁-positive signals in the vascular wall. (C) NO-stimulated sGC activity in mouse lungs exposed to normoxia and hypoxia. There was a significant decrease of cGMP levels in mouse lungs after 72 hours and 120 hours of hypoxia treatment compared with normoxia-treated animals. Data are expressed as means ± s.e.m. (n = 4; *P<0.05 versus control).