muscle
• aortic rings first stimulated to 80-90% of maximum contraction with phenylephrine show reduced relaxation in response to increasing concentrations of acetylcholine (Ach), however both wild-type and mutant aortas fail to respond to Ach when denuded of endothelium, indicating that endothelium-dependent relaxation is reduced in aortas
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cardiovascular system
• mutant aortic endothelial cells show only a minimal increase in acetylcholine-induced intracellular calcium levels compared to a pronounced increase in wild-type cells and impaired replenishment of the acetylcholine-responsive calcium stores
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