Figure 8.

Cholesterol enrichment attenuates the steady state NO produced in response to flow. Cells were treated with either PBS with Ca⁺² or 3.5 mM Cholesterol for 30 min at 37 °C prior to insertion into the chamber. Each membrane was exposed to a series of 4 step changes from 0.1 to 10 dyn/cm², which represented the response of a single membrane. Response from multiple membranes were then averaged and compared. (a) Sample traces of the response for unenriched (solid line) and cholesterol treated (dotted line) cells. The steady-state concentration was offset to zero in order to show the individual NO response due to the step change occurring at 50 s. B. Bar graph showing the ∆[NO] response in unenriched and cholesterol enriched cells. Cholesterol enriched responses were reduced by 24% and were statistically significant (Mean and SEM were plotted, One-tailed t test. Unenriched n = 4, Cholesterol n = 3, *p < 0.05).