Figure 4.

Pitavastatin increased the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in human endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Late EPCs were pretreated with pitavastatin and atorvastatin (10⁻⁷ M) for 24 hours. Both of pitavastatin and atorvastatin increased significantly total form of eNOS activation analyzed by Western blotting (A). Ratio of phosphorylated eNOS over total eNOS significantly increased only in late EPCs after co-incubated with pitavasatin (B). Pitavastatin (10⁻⁷ M) increased significantly expression of VEGF in early EPCs analyzed by Western blotting (C). *: P < 0.05 was considered significant.