Transition in the mechanism of flow-mediated dilation with aging and development of coronary artery disease.

In microvessels of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is largely dependent upon the endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor HO. The goal of this study is to examine the influence of age and presence or absence of disease on the mechanism of FMD. Human coronary or adipose arterioles (~150 µm diameter) were prepared for videomicroscopy.

Rat survival to anthrax lethal toxin is likely controlled by a single gene.

We examined whether survival of different rat strains administered anthrax lethal toxin is genetically determined. A reproducible test population of first filial generation hybrid rats was bred based on the susceptibility of progenitors to anthrax lethal toxin and to maximize genetic diversity across the strains. These rats were then tested with varying doses of anthrax lethal toxin.