About the Authors

Linda S. Hoffmann

Current address: Centre for Vascular Research, School of Medical Science (Pathology) and Bosch Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Affiliation Pharma Research Centre, Bayer HealthCare, Wuppertal, Germany

Peter M. Schmidt

Affiliation CSIRO Materials, Science and Engineering, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Yvonne Keim

Affiliation Pharma Research Centre, Bayer HealthCare, Wuppertal, Germany

Carsten Hoffmann

Affiliation Julius-Maximilians-University of Wuerzburg, School of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Wuerzburg, Germany

Harald H. H. W. Schmidt

Affiliation Department of Pharmacology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Johannes-Peter Stasch

johannes-peter.stasch@bayer.com

Affiliations Pharma Research Centre, Bayer HealthCare, Wuppertal, Germany, Martin-Luther-University, School of Pharmacy, Halle, Germany

Competing Interests

Linda S. Hoffmann, Yvonne Keim and Johannes-Peter Stasch were at the time of the study employed by Bayer HealthCare and Peter M. Schmidt is employed by CSIRO Molecular & Health Technologies. JPS holds more than 50 patent applications related to sGC stimulators, such as BAY 41-2272, and sGC activators, such as BAY 58-2667. Details of which are available on request. The sGC stimulator riociguat (BAY 63-2521) and the sGC activator cinaciguat (BAY 58-2667) are currently in clinical development. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LSH PMS CH J-PS. Performed the experiments: LSH YK. Analyzed the data: LSH YK PMS J-PS. Wrote the paper: LSH PMS HHHWS J-PS.