Endothelial dysfunction associated with elevated serum levels of TNF-alpha observed in diabetes, obesity, and congenital heart disease results, in part, from the impaired production of endothelial nitric oxide (NO). Cellular NO production depends absolutely on the availability of arginine, substrate of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). In this report, evidence is provided demonstrating ...

Nitric oxide is a ubiquitous molecule implicated in a variety of biological processes. The specific action of nitric oxide depends on its enzymatic sources, namely neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS), and inducible NOS (iNOS), each having distinct tissue localization. Conventional pharmacological antagonists could not distinguish these enzymes or provide models of chro...

Nitric oxide (NO) is a versatile messenger molecule first associated with endothelial relaxing effects. In the central nervous system (CNS), NO synthesis is primarily triggered by activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and has a Janus face, with both beneficial and harmful properties. There are three isoforms of the NO synthesizing enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS): neuronal (nNOS...

We assessed the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on hypoxia-induced dysfunction of the pulmonary endothelium using organ-cultured rabbit intrapulmonary arteries; 3-microM DEX inhibited the 7-day hypoxia (5% oxygen)-induced impairments of endothelial-dependent relaxation, cGMP accumulation, and increase in intracellular Ca(2+) level under substance P-stimulated conditions. Treatment with DEX over ...

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is an important regulator of cardiovascular homeostasis by production of nitric oxide (NO) from vascular endothelial cells. It can be activated by protein kinase B (PKB)/Akt via phosphorylation at Ser-1177. We are interested in the role of Rho GTPase/Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway in regulation of eNOS expression and activation. Using adenovirus-mediated gene...

BACKGROUND Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a chronic microangiopathic complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).Vascular endothelial dysfunction resulting from impaired nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in the vascular endothelial cells has been suggested as playing an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (E-NOS) gene G894T polym...

Hypertension is associated with endothelial dysfunction and increased cardiovascular risk. Caveolin-1 regulates nitric oxide (NO) signaling by modulating endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). The purpose of this study was to examine whether HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor improves impaired endothelial function of the aorta in spontaneous hypertensive rat (SHR) and to determine the underlying me...

Propionyl-l-carnitine (PLC) is a natural short-chain derivative of l-carnitine (LC), a natural amino acid that plays an important role in fatty acid metabolism. Recent studies suggest that PLC has vascular protective effects. Because of the importance of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and its product, antiatherogenic molecule nitric oxide (NO), in vascular endothelial function, we sou...

Background Clinical studies indicate that vitamin D3 improves circulation and may have beneficial effects in hypertension. This study uses nanomedical systems to investigate the role of 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 in the preservation/restoration of endothelial function in an angiotensin II (Ang II) cellular model of hypertension. Methods 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) an...

Hormones and nitric oxide (NO), a free radical, are ancestral molecules, conserved through evolution, that modulate many aspects of the physiology and pathophysiology of living organisms by regulating transcription of genes involved in development, metabolism, and differentiation. Of interest, both estrogen and NO signaling, specifically through the estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) and the end...