Anti-inflammatory Role of Carotenoids in Endothelial Cells Derived from Umbilical Cord of Women Affected by Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Figure 4

The effects of carotenoids on NO bioavailability in C- and GD-HUVECs. (a) Nitric oxide generation measured by DAF-2DA cytometric analysis and (b) cGMP levels measured by an EIA kit in HUVECs pretreated with BC or Lyc (2.5 mmol/L) in the presence or absence of 16 h stimulation with TNF-α (1 ng/mL). The stimulation with ionomycin (Iono, 2 μmol/L) for 24 h with or without L-NAME (LN, 1 mmol/L) preincubation (45 minutes) is used as a positive control. In (a), data are expressed as the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) ratio (signal to noise ratio) from 4 independent experiments (). In (b), data result from 3 different experiments () and are expressed as fmol/well. ANOVA and Bonferroni multiple comparison test: vs. basal and vs. TNF-α in GD-HUVECs, vs. TNF-α C-HUVECs. Student’s -test: vs. basal and vs. Iono C-HUVECs.

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