Representative ethidium-bromide-agarose gels of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction amplification products from vascular samples in normal (NL) dogs before and after acute volume (V) load, and in heart failure (HF) dogs. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase and leukocyte common antigen expression (LCA) confirmed the endothelial nature of the sample with minimal leukocyte contamination. GADPH served as an internal control for loading conditions. Band intensity of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), CD40, tissue factor (TF), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) mRNA expression was quantified in arbitrary densitometric units (du) using a Bio-Rad Gel densitometer. VO.