Figure 2

Phenylephrine (PE) concentration eliciting 50% of maximal constriction response (EC50) in different groups. CTRL, control group; LPS, animals that received LPS alone; LPS+aPC, animals that received LPS and aPC; aPC, animals that received aPC alone. n represents the number of rabbits. (a) Aortic rings in the presence of endothelium (E+) and in the absence of endothelium (E-). *p < 0.05 versus E+; ^§p < 0.05 versus CTRL E+; ¹⁶³p < 0.05 versus CTRL E-. (b) Aortic rings (E-) incubated with or without N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). ^§p < 0.05 versus LPS E-; ¹⁶³p < 0.05 versus CTRL E-.