*Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical Faculty, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany; and

†Department of Cardiac Surgery, Mid-German Heart Center, University Hospital Halle, Halle, Germany.

Correspondence: Ulrich Gergs, PhD, Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Medizinische Fakultät, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Magdeburger St 4, Halle 06112, Germany (e-mail: [email protected]).

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

J.N. and U.G. conceived and designed the research. W.H. and B.H. conducted experiments and analyzed data. U.G. prepared the figures. J.N. and U.G. wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

The data of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Animals: The investigation conformed to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals as published by the National Research Council (2011). The animals were handled and maintained according to the approved protocols of the Animal Welfare Committee of the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany. Humans: This study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and has been approved by the local ethics committee (hm-bü 04.08.2005).

Informed consent was obtained from all patients included in the study.

All authors declare that they have seen and approved the submitted version of this manuscript.

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