Figure 3.

Germ‐free (GF) mice are protected from AngII‐induced vascular dysfunction and blood pressure increase. CONV‐R versus GF mice on C57BL/6 background±AngII (1 mg/kg per day) were studied after 7 days of in vivo treatment. A and B, Cumulative concentration relaxation curves of isolated aortic rings in response to endothelium‐dependent (ACh) and endothelium‐independent vasodilatators (GTN). Two‐way ANOVA, both n=6 to 15 mice per group. *P<0.05 versus CONV‐R; ^† P<0.05 versus GF; ^&ddagger; P<0.05 versus GF+AngII. C, Blood pressure of CONV‐R and GF mice with and without AngII challenge, measured by tail‐cuff method. Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn′s multiple comparison, n=4 to 5 mice per group. D, Flow cytometric analysis of kidneys of CONV‐R control mice and GF mice with and without AngII treatment. CD45⁺ as well as CD11b⁺ cells (pregated on living CD45⁺ cells) per kidney in CONV‐R control mice and GF mice±AngII treatment are shown in bar graphs. Statistical analysis was performed with 1‐way ANOVA with Bonferroni post‐hoc test, n=5 to 8 mice per group. Below, representative fluorescence‐activated cell sorting plots are given. ACh indicates acetylcholine; AngII, angiotensin II; CONV‐R, conventionally raised; GTN, glyceryl trinitrate.