Figure 5.

Biomechanical properties of cerebral parenchymal arterioles remain unchanged after menopause. A: summary graph showing that distensibility, measured as % increase in diameter from a low-pressure baseline (5 mmHg), is unchanged by menopause. B: microvascular compliance, assessed by stress-strain relationships of parenchymal arterioles, is unaffected by menopause. Data are means ± SE; N = 8 arterioles from 8 mice/group, analyzed by 2-way ANOVA with a Bonferroni post hoc correction for multiple comparisons. C: summary bar graph demonstrating that the β-coefficient, calculated as the slope of the individual stress-strain curves, is not altered by menopause. Data are means ± SE; N = 7 arterioles from 7 mice/group, analyzed by 2-tailed Student’s t test. Passive biomechanical measurements were obtained in pressurized arterioles incubated in Ca²⁺-free conditions with addition of vasodilators to the superfusing bath.