Fig. 1.

Effect of sesame lignans (SE) on the sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) in skeletal muscles of urethane-anesthetized rats. Rats were intragastrically administrated SE (2 or 20 mg/kg) after sympathetic nerves innervating skeletal muscle were stabilized. The muscle SNA activity was recorded for 60 min after administration. (A–C) Representative images of changes in neural activity. Arrows indicate the time of administration (vehicle or SE). Vertical scale bars indicate neural discharge rates of 200 spikes/5 s. (D) Changes in muscle SNA after administration of vehicle or SE (2 mg/kg). (E) Changes in muscle SNA after administration of vehicle or SE (20 mg/kg). (F) Changes in muscle SNA in rats subjected to subdiaphragmatic vagotomy after administration of vehicle or SE (20 mg/kg). Values are presented as the mean ± SEM (n=3). Comparison between two groups was performed by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). NS, not significant.