Figure 7. Effect of prenatal cold stress on AT₁ receptor expression and function in PVN of adult rat offspring at 12 weeks of age.

(A,B) AT₁ receptor expression was detected by immunoblotting (A) and immunohistochemistry (B). (A) Results of immunoblotting are expressed as the ratio of AT₁ receptor and GAPDH (*P<0.05 vs control, n=6). (B) The staining in each group was repeated at least five times, and ten fields of vision in each slide were chosen for OD assessment (*P<0.05 vs control, scale bar = 100 μm, shown as black arrow). (C) Effect of the AT₁ receptor antagonist, losartan, on SBP in adult prenatal cold-exposed and control offspring. Losartan (AT₁ receptor antagonist) was administrated into the hypothalamic PVN by microinjection (11.45 nmol/kg). The rats were anesthetized with pentobarbital and blood pressure was measured from the femoral artery. Blood pressures were obtained 1 h after the losartan PVN injection (*P<0.05 vs others, ^#P<0.05 vs control group without treatment, n=8/group).