Fig. 1.
Effect of long-term exposure of estrogen receptor (ER)-specific agonists on intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) response in nonasthmatic and asthmatic human airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. A: representative traces showing transient [Ca2+]i responses in Fura-2-loaded cells with long-term (24 h) exposure of estrogen receptor α (ERα; PPT), ERβ (WAY) agonists, and nonselective 17-β estradiol (E2) in nonasthmatic and asthmatic ASM cells. In both nonasthmatic and asthmatic ASM cells treated with ER-specific agonists, the area under the curve (AUC) of the [Ca2+]i responses to 10 µM histamine (B), 1 µM bradykinin (C), and 1 µM ACh (D) were measured. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs. vehicle. Data are presented as means ± SE; n = 5 patients each.