Fig. 4.

Acute antioxidant vitamin C infusion increased endothelial function in late perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Baseline a brachial artery FMD and b nitroglycerine (GTN)-mediated vasodilation before (black bars) and following acute vitamin C infusion (hatched bars). Data are means ± SE (N = 82; Pre, premenopausal, N = 22; Early Peri, early perimenopausal, N = 16; Late Peri, late perimenopausal, N = 21; Post, postmenopausal, N = 23). ^*p < 0.01 vs. premenopausal women under the same condition; ^†p < 0.05 vs. baseline condition early perimenopausal; ^‡p < 0.01 vs. baseline condition of the same group. For GTN, there was a significant main effect of the time (N = 39; Pre = 11, Early Peri = 7, Late Peri = 11, Post = 10; p = 0.004)