Table 1.
Plasma lipids in the four groups of rats (mean±SD).
Table 2.
Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in the four groups of rats (mean±SD).
Figure 1.
Pathological changes of ascending aorta of rats from groups M, L, X and C.
(H-E staining, 20x).
Table 3.
Hemorheological parameters in the four groups of rats (mean±SD).
Figure 2.
Effect of Xuezhikang on plasma NOx (nitrite and nitrate).
(n = 12/group). *:P<0.05 vs. group C; **:P<0.05 vs. group M; #:P<0.05 vs. group L.
Figure 3.
Effects of Xuezhikang on cGMP level in aorta wall and erythrocyte cytoplasm.
Hemoglobin in erythrocyte cytoplasm had been removed by ultrafiltration before the assay. *:P<0.05 vs. group C; **:P<0.05 vs. group M.
Figure 4.
Effect of Xuezhikang on eNOS expression on erythrocyte membrane (n = 6/group).
About a 134 kDa band was identified by anti-eNOS antibody. β-tubulin was used as an internal reference. *:P<0.05 vs. group C; **:P<0.05 vs. group M; #:P<0.05 vs. group L.
Figure 5.
Effects of Xuezhikang on eNOS expression in aorta.
(A) Protein lysate of aorta wall was used for the detection of eNOS, eNOS p-ser1177 by western blotting (n = 6/group). *:P<0.05 vs. group C; **:P<0.05 vs. group M; #:P<0.05 vs. group L. (B) Immunohistochemistry of aorta wall located eNOS expression in aorta endothelia (brown staining).
Figure 6.
Effect of Xuezhikang on caveolin-1 expression in aorta wall.
(A) Protein lysate of aorta wall was used for the detection of caveolin-1 (n = 6/group). *:P<0.05 vs. group C; **:P<0.05 vs. group M; #:P<0.05 vs. group L. (B) Immunohistochemistry of aorta wall located caveolin-1 predominantly in aortic endothelia (brown staining).
Figure 7.
Interaction between eNOS and caveolin-1 in aorta wall.
Protein lysates of aorta wall were incubated with anti-caveolin-1 antibody and protein A resin, and the immuno-precipitated proteins were blotted by anti-eNOS antibody by western blotting. Negative control sample was taken from the mixed supernatant from groups M, L, X and C, and was subjected to immunoprecipitation without the addition of anti-caveolin-1 antibody.