1. Effect of Vein Graft Harvesting on Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase and Nitric Oxide Production 
Michael R. Dashwood, PhD, Kay Savage, PhD, Audrey Dooley, PhD, Xu Shi-Wen, PhD, David J. Abraham, PhD, Domingos S.R. Souza, MD, PhD 
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 
Volume 80, Issue 3, Pages (September 2005)
DOI: /j.athoracsur
Copyright © 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions

2. Fig 1
Immunohistochemical identification of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in conventional and no-touch veins. (Top panels) Endothelial nitric oxide synthase identified by immunohistochemistry (red staining) on representative transverse sections of conventional and no-touch vein segments from the same patient undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Dense staining is associated with adventitial vasa vasorum (ADV [arrows]) and tunica media (TM). In no-touch vein segments, these structures remain intact, whereas they are removed or damaged in conventional segments. In addition, the TM is thinner in conventional segments owing to high-pressure distension. (Middle panels) Medial (TM) and adventitial (ADV) immunostaining of conventional and no-touch vein segments. Much of the adventitia has been removed in conventional segments, but remains intact in no-touch veins, where there is pronounced eNOS immunostaining associated with the vasa vasorum. (Bottom panels) Endothelial nitric oxide synthase immunostaining is absent at regions of denudation caused by distension of conventional vein segments (arrows) whereas immunostaining in no-touch segments lines the vessel lumen and is associated with an intact endothelium. Scale bar = 1 mm for top two panels and 250 μm for lower four panels.
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.athoracsur )
Copyright © 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions

3. Fig 2
Endothelial-dependent endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) immunostaining in vein segments. Immunofluorescence micrographs of endothelial cells (CD31, red) and eNOS (green) on conventional (left) and no-touch (right) veins. Double labeling confirms that eNOS is associated with the lumenal endothelium and shows a pronounced absence of eNOS at regions of denudation in the conventional vein segments (arrows). Scale bar = 50 μm.
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.athoracsur )
Copyright © 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions

4. Fig 3
Expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and nitric oxide (NO) release in human saphenous vein grafts. (A) Representative autoradiograms of Western blots of CD31 and eNOS protein expression in conventional (CONV) and no-touch (NT) vein segments from 3 patients normalized to β-actin. (B, C) Histograms representing densitometric analysis of Western blots showing a significant reduction in both CD31 (n = 5) and eNOS (n = 8) protein expression in conventional compared with no-touch veins. (D) Histogram representing eNOS “activity” as assessed by the citrulline assay. There was also a significant reduction in conventional compared with no-touch vein segments (n = 8). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Paired t test, *p less than 0.05.
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery  , DOI: ( /j.athoracsur )
Copyright © 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Terms and Conditions