fig5

Figure 5. Angiotensin II-induced vasoconstriction is attenuated in premenopausal women compared with men, and this difference is abolished with AT2R inhibition. Forearm cutaneous vascular conductance was assessed to measure microvascular constriction in response to increasing concentrations of AngII (1 × 10^-9 to 1 × 10^-4 M) in young, premenopausal women (N = 3, red circles, average age: 28 ± 2 years) and young, age-matched men (N = 4, blue squares, average age: 30 ± 3 years). Local skin sites were pre-treated with (A) lactated Ringer’s (vehicle control) or (B) an AT2R antagonist (1 μM PD123319). Cutaneous vascular conductance (red blood cell flux/mean arterial pressure) is expressed as a percentage of baseline. The decline in cutaneous vascular conductance in response to AngII corresponds to the degree of vasoconstriction of the cutaneous microvasculature. The main effects of concentration and sex and the interaction effect of these two factors were assessed via repeated measures two-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc testing where appropriate. Data are means ± SEM, **P < 0.01.