Analysis of the nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway in experimental liver cirrhosis suggests phosphodiesterase-5 as potential target to treat portal hypertension

Figure 1 Dotplots showing hepatic gene expression of endothelial NO synthase (A), inducible NO synthase (B), phosphodiesterase-5 (C), soluble guanylate cyclase subunits α1 (D) and soluble guanylate cyclase subunits β1 (E), and serum cyclic guanosine monophosphate concentrations (pmol/mL) (F). Significant differences among groups are corrected for multiple comparisons and denoted by ^aP < 0.05. Gene expression levels are given as fold expression compared to CON. Since iNOS expression in CON was below the detection limit, it was arbitrarily set to “1.0”. iNOS: Inducible NO synthase.

Figure 2 Immunohistochemical localization of phosphodiesterase-5. A-C: Healthy liver; D-F: Cirrhotic liver. Red arrows: Localization in zone 3 hepatocytes; Blue arrows: Localization in perisinusoidal cells; Green Arrow: Fibrous septa.

Figure 3 Relative median (%) of mean arterial pressure and portal venous pressure over 60 min with error bars representing 95% confidence intervals. The time point “10 min” was set to 100%.