Fig. 3

Airway resistance is increased in ovarectomized animals treated with estradiol in comparison to female INTACT, OVA-treated animals. After completion of the experimental protocol outline in Fig. 1 animals were subjected to methacholine challenge (12.5 mg/mL) using the flexivent system (Scireq). A Resistance (Rrs, baseline subtracted) and B elastance (Ers; baseline subtracted) were measured following methacholine challenge. C Pressure–volume loops were determined and normalized to body weight. The data are shown as means ± SEM. Results represent 3 independent experiments, N = 4 = 7/group. Mixed-ANOVAs were used to determine statistical differences using multiple variate selection followed by Sidak’s post-test (C), while a one-way ANOVA was used to determined statistical differences; as before a Tukey’s post-test was used to determine between group differences. Statistical significance was assigned when p-value was less than 0.05; *p < 0.05, ****p < 0.0001