Expression of sGC proteins in the aortas of adult (20-week-old) and young (8-week-old) SHRs and WKYs.

Representative Western immunoblotting (A) and the mean relative abundant levels of expressed proteins (B) indicated a depressed basal sGC expression in 8-week-old SHRs. Hemin treatment significantly increased sGC expression in 8-week-old SHRs and in WKYs of all ages, although a higher magnitude of increase was registered in 8-week-old SHRs (†P < .05). ††P < .01 versus age-matched WKYs. *P < .05 versus all other groups. The ages of the animals in weeks were indicated as “20” and “8” in (A) and (B). n = 4 for each group. Error bars indicate means ± SEM.