Figure 6.

Dihydroethidium staining in cryosections of serial internal mammary artery rings from the same vessel incubated for 6 hours with atorvastatin 0 μmol/L (A and B), atorvastatin 5 μmol/L (C and D), and atorvastatin 5 μmol/L plus mevalonate 200 μmol/L (E and F). Endothelium-derived dihydroethidium staining was reduced after atorvastatin, whereas this effect was reversed by mevalonate. N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) induced a reduction of endothelium-derived fluorescence in control (B) and atorvastatin plus mevalonate vessels (F), whereas an opposite effect was observed in the atorvastatin-treated vessels (D). This observation suggests an improvement of endothelial nitric oxide synthase coupling by atorvastatin, an effect that is prevented by mevalonate. Images are representative of 8 sets of internal mammary arteries.