Following AVE0991 injection, cirrhotic BDL and CCl4 intoxicated rats with portal hypertension, showed no significant change in protein expression levels of hepatic eNOS, but increased hepatic protein levels of phosphorylated eNOS (p-eNOS) underlining the mechanism for the hepatic vasodilation in cirrhosis (Fig 3A–3C). This evidence concerns the gene NOS3 and portal hypertension.