4.7. Statistical Analysis

Regarding the experiments other than aorta ring mechanics, reactivity and length, the statistical comparisons were performed by using two-, three- or four-way ANOVAs, followed, where necessary, by Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) tests for paired value comparisons. The software used were Statistica 6.1 (StatSoft, Tulsa, OK, USA) and GraphPad Prism 4 (GraphPad Software. Inc., San Diego, CA, USA).

For aortic ring mechanics/reactivity, the concentration–response curves were fitted to a sigmoidal logistic equation using GraphPad Prism 4 (GraphPad Software. Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). The concentration–response curves and internal circumference–pressure curves were analyzed using two-way ANOVAs, followed by multiple Bonferroni post-tests. Unpaired t-tests were also used for comparison of the ascending aorta lengths.

The results are presented as mean values ± SEM, and p-values ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant.