Leukocyte migration across vascular endothelium is mediated by chemokines that are either synthesized by the endothelium or transferred across the endothelium from the tissue. The mechanism of transfer of two chemokines, CXCL10 (interferon gamma-inducible protein [IP]-10) and CCL2 (macrophage chemotactic protein [MCP]-1), was compared across dermal and lung microvessel endothelium and saphenous...

Brain endothelium has a distinctive phenotype, including high expression of transferrin receptor, p-glycoprotein, claudin-5 and occludin. Dermal endothelium expresses lower levels of the transferrin receptor and it is absent from lung endothelium. All three endothelia were screened for transcription factors that bind the transferrin receptor promoter and show different patterns of binding betwe...

To study the mechanisms by which adrenomedullin (AM) induces endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation, we examined whether AM-induced endothelium-dependent vasodilation was mediated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt-dependent pathway in rat aorta, because it was recently reported that PI3K/Akt was implicated in the activation of endothelial NO synthase. AM-induced vasorelaxation in th...

OBJECTIVE Microalbuminuria and impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation are both predictors for cardiac events in patients with type 2 diabetes. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether microalbuminuria correlated with coronary endothelium-dependent vasodilation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We evaluated 84 patients (47 men, mean age 50.5 +/- 5.9 years) with type 2 diabetes for 9.4 +/- ...

BACKGROUND Endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired in patients with insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and restored by vitamin C administration, implicating a causative role for oxidant stress. Hyperglycemia per se attenuates endothelium-dependent vasodilation in healthy subjects. Accordingly, this study investigated whether impaired endothelium-dependent vasod...

Age-associated endothelium dysfunction is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Endothelium-synthesized prostaglandins and thromboxane are local hormones, which mediate vasodilation and vasoconstriction and critically maintain vascular homeostasis. Accumulating evidence indicates that the age-related changes in endothelial eicosanoids contribute to decline in endot...

The present experiments were designed to investigate the effect of interleukin-2 on the response to arachidonic acid in rings with and without endothelium from Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) aortas. In control rings, arachidonic acid induced contractions of WKY aorta that were not different between preparations with and without endothelium. Incubation with interleuk...

Endothelium-dependent relaxations of canine veins isolated from 15 different sites were examined. Acetylcholine (ACh, 10(-10)-10(-6) M) caused marked endothelium-dependent relaxations in the external jugular vein, superior vena cava, brachiocephalic vein, segment A (supradiaphragmatic portion) and D (infrarenal portion) of the inferior vena cava. However, only contractile responses were induced...

Isoprenaline is known to produce vascular relaxation through activation of beta-adrenoceptors. In recent years, beta-adrenoceptor-activated vascular relaxation has been the focus of pharmacological study in terms of both the receptor subtypes and the intracellular signaling mechanisms which trigger smooth muscle mechanical functions. In addition, the possible contribution of the endothelium to ...