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Figure 4 The effect of nitroglycerin (NTG) on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-7 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs). Cells were exposed to control media, NTG 200 pmol or NTG 2,000 pmol for 4 h. Total ribonucleic acid was extracted and competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to measure MMP-2 (solid bars) or MMP-7 (open bars) as described in the Methods section, and each PCR reaction mix was subjected to electrophoresis on a 2% (w/v) agarose gel. Quantification of RT-PCR bands was determined by gel densitometry. Results represent the mean ± SEM for analysis of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.005 compared with control cells.