Chronic NO Restriction in Hypertensive Rats Increases Abdominal but Not Thoracic Aortic Intrinsic Stiffness via an Augmentation in Profibrotic Materials

Table 4

Aortic structure and composition.

Aortic site		Thoracic			Abdominal
Group	WKY	SHR	SHRLN	WKY	SHR	SHRLN
Thickness μm
Lumen μm
MCSA, AU
MCSA /BW, mg/AU
Elastic Lamellae, n
Interlamellar Space, AU
Colored Aortic Wall:
(i) VSMC nucleus, %
(ii) Collagen density %
(iii) Elastin density %
(iv) Collagen/elastin
Stained Aortic Wall, %:
(i) Fibronectin
(ii) α5-integrin
(iii) FAK
n	6	6	8	6	6	8

Results are expressed in percentage of colored or stained media area and reported as mean ± SEM. = 6-8 rats per group. MCSA: media cross sectional area. BW: Body weight. FAK: focal adhesion kinase
significantly different (P < 0.05) compared to WKY; #significantly different (P < 0.05) compared to SHR. The numbers of rats (n) are indicated at the bottom of the table.