FIGURE 5.

SVEP1 or integrin α4/9 inhibition enhances blood vessel contraction. (a) Typical traces showing force generation of aortas from Svep1 ^+/− (+/−) and littermate control (+/+) mice stimulated with KPSS (high K⁺ physiological salt solution, 60 mM KCl) prior to application of U46619 (1‐100 nM). (b) Aortas from Svep1 ^+/− mice were stimulated with U46619 (+/+ n = 11, +/− n = 13) and force generation was recorded by wire myography. (c) Aortas from C57BL/6J mice were incubated overnight with an integrin α4 (10 μg·ml⁻¹) (IgG n = 10, ITGA4 n = 10), (d) integrin α9 (10 μg·ml⁻¹) (IgG n = 10, ITGA9 n = 10), (e) a combination of both integrin α4 & α9 blocking antibodies (IgG n = 11, 4 and 9 n = 12) or (f) the dual integrin α4 and α9 inhibitor BOP (3 μM) (NS n = 6, BOP = 10) prior to U46619 application. (g) Aortas from Svep1 ^+/− mice were incubated overnight with BOP (+/− n = 10, +/− BOP n = 10) and force generation was recorded. Data presented are means with 95% confidence intervals. *P < 0.05, significantly different as indicated; mixed‐effect models.