Fig. 9

Defective autophagy in VSMCs affects IP3-mediated contractions and VGCC mediated tonic contractions by PE. IP3-mediated transient contractions of Atg^+/+ SM22α-Cre⁺ (+/+) and Atg^F/F SM22α-Cre⁺ (F/F) aortic segments were elicited by 2 µM PE in 0Ca²⁺ conditions (a). Some data points of the contraction (shown as full line) are plotted ± SEM, whereas double exponential fit curves are shown as broken lines (parameters of curve fit in Table 1) (n = 5–7). Tonic contraction by 2 µM PE after addition of 3.5 mM Ca²⁺ to the 0Ca²⁺ solution (b) revealed no differences between +/+ and F/F aortic segments. Two-way ANOVA with L-NAME and genotype effect indicated (***p < 0.001) and with Sidak’s post hoc test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 (n = 7). Relative amount of VGCC-mediated contraction to the total contraction by PE (c). Two-way ANOVA with L-NAME and genotype effect indicated (***p < 0.001) and with Sidak’s post hoc test; *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001 (n = 7)