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Figure 2. Methods for assessing endothelial function and arterial stiffness in humans and mice. Endothelial function can be determined through endothelium-dependent dilation. In humans, we assess this experimentally via brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (non-invasive gold standard of conduit artery function) or by assessing the forearm blood flow response to brachial artery infusion of acetylcholine (ACh) (resistance vessel function). In mice, we assess endothelium-dependent dilation by exposing isolated carotid arteries to increasing doses of a pharmacological stimulus such as ACh. We measure large elastic artery stiffness in humans via carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (the gold-standard technique for assessing aortic stiffness), or by carotid artery compliance (a local measure of arterial distensibility). In mice, we measure arterial stiffness by aortic pulse wave velocity, measured between the aortic arch and abdominal aorta.