Fig. 3.

Blood pressure changes induced by PP13

A – Changes in mean arterial pressure in pregnant rats were induced by using peristaltic pumps implanted inter-peritoneally on day 8 of pregnancy for releasing their content until day15. The three animal groups had pumps that released w/t (n = 9) or truncated PP13 (n = 6) or saline (n = 6). (A) Release of w/t and truncated PP13 resulted in hypotension throughout the duration of PP13 release from the pumps. Modified from Gizurarson et al., Ref. [128].

(B–C) Increased diameters of the uterine vasculature with PP13 (C) compared to saline control (B) as detected in non-pregnant rats. Animals were subjected to continuous release from implanted pumps that released their content for seven days; the rats were sacrificed six days later (13 days overall), on gestational day 21.

(D) Increased diameters of the utero-placental vasculature in pregnant rats exposed to PP13 release from intra-peritoneal 7-day release mini-osmotic pumps implanted on day 8 of pregnancy. All animals were sacrificed on gestational day 21. Inset: higher magnification of a given section from the pregnant rat exposed to PP13.