Fig. 2. The second contractile response to KCl (30 mm) of aortic rings that had not been exposed (control), exposed to halothane (HAL; 3%) alone (A ), interleukin (IL)-1β (20 ng/ml) alone (B ), HAL (1%) plus IL-1β (20 ng/ml) (C ), HAL (2%) plus IL-1β (20 ng/ml) (D ), and HAL (3%) plus IL-1β (20 ng/ml) (E ) for 5 h. Contraction induced by 30 mm KCl in the first trial was taken as 100%; mean values of contraction in control, HAL alone (A ), IL-1β alone (B ), HAL (1%) plus IL-1β (C ), HAL (2%) plus IL-1β (D ), and HAL (3%) plus IL-1β (E ) were 1,587 ± 142, 1,503 ± 161, 1,632 ± 167, 1,548 ± 173, 1,749 ± 183, and 1,618 ± 159 mg, respectively. *P < 0.05 versus IL-1β; †P < 0.01 versus control. n = 7 rings each. For further details, see text.