Fig. 2.
Endothelial dysfunction measured in the cutaneous microvasculature of women who have had preeclampsia. Compared with women who had a healthy pregnancy (HC), women who had preeclampsia (PrEC) have an attenuated cutaneous vasodilation response to the endothelium-dependent agonist acetylcholine (ACh). A: there were no differences between the groups in response to ACh with coinfusion of the nonspecific nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME). B: calculated % NO-dependent vasodilation at the highest dose of ACh was attenuated in PrEC. *P < 0.05 vs. HC. CVCmax, maximum cutaneous vascular conductance. These data demonstrate an attenuated endothelial function in the microvasculature of otherwise healthy women who have had preeclampsia. Reprinted with permission from Stanhewicz et al., Hypertension 70: 382–389, 2017 (84).