Fig. 1. sPRR-His activates the AT1R.

(A-B) HUVECs were pretreated with 10μM Losartan (Los) or vehicle (Veh) for 1h followed by exposure to sPRR-His. (A) Effect of Los on sPRR-His-induced H₂O₂ generation. (B) Effect of sPRR-His on protein expression of Nox4, IκBα, NF-κB p-p65 and cleaved caspase-3 in the presence or absence of 10μM Los. (C-D) HUVECs were transfected with scrambled small interfering RNA (Scr siRNA) or AT1R siRNA, followed by exposure to sPRR-His. (C) Effect of AT1R siRNA knockdown on sPRR-His-induced H₂O₂ generation. (D) Effects of AT1R siRNA knockdown on protein expression of Nox4, IκBα, NF-κB p-p65 and cleaved caspase-3 after sPRR-His treatment. The value beneath the image indicates the densitometry of the protein normalized to β-Actin for 3 separate experiments. N=9–12 (N represents the number of samples in each group, and the repetitions of separate experiments are 3–4). Statistical significance was determined by using one-way ANOVA with the Bonferroni test for multiple comparisons. *P<0.01, compared with the CTR or Scr siRNA; #P<0.01, compared with the sPRR-His or sPRR-His+Scr siRNA. Data are mean ± SEM.