objective(s):to know whether scurrula atropurpurea is able to modulate total plasma nitrate/nitrite levels, decrease endothelial damage, and increase endothelial progenitor cells (epcs) in hypertensive rats. materials and methods: the rats were divided in 5 groups: control (normotensive) group, desoxy cortico sterone (doca)-salt hypertensive group, and three doca-salt hypertensive groups. all 5...

Tissue engineering may offer patients new options when replacement or repair of an organ is needed. However, most tissues will require a microvascular network to supply oxygen and nutrients. One strategy for creating a microvascular network would be promotion of vasculogenesis in situ by seeding vascular progenitor cells within the biopolymeric construct. To pursue this strategy, we isolated CD...

Incubation of human low density lipoprotein (LDL) at 37 degrees C in the presence of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (EC) caused a time-dependent shift in the charge and density of LDL. The physical changes of the human LDL occurred parallel with an increase in its clearance from the serum and uptake in the liver when injected into rats. The serum decay of the EC-modified LDL (44 hours i...

introduction: multiple sclerosis (ms) is generally known as a manageable but not yet curable autoimmune disease affecting central nervous system. a potential therapeutic approach should possess several properties: prevent immune system from damaging the brain and spinal cord, promote differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (opcs) into mature oligodendrocytes to produce myelin, preve...

OBJECTIVE The Cxcl12/Cxcr4 chemokine ligand/receptor axis mediates the mobilization of smooth muscle cell progenitors, driving injury-induced neointimal hyperplasia. This study aimed to investigate the role of endothelial Cxcr4 in neointima formation. APPROACH AND RESULTS β-Galactosidase staining using bone marrow x kinase (Bmx)-CreER(T2) reporter mice and double immunofluorescence revealed a...

Endothelial dysfunction is prevalent in chronic kidney disease. This study tested the hypothesis that transfusion of rat aortic endothelial cells (ECs) ameliorates endothelial dysfunction in a rat model of chronic kidney disease. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent sham surgery or 5/6 nephrectomy (Nx). Five weeks after Nx, EC (1.5 × 10(6) cells/rat) or vehicle were transfused intravenously. One ...

Pericyte Endothelial cell (EC) Basement membrane Tumor cells co-opt pre-existing vessels Tumor cells line tumor vessels Cancer stem-like cells differentiate to ECs Endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) differentiates to EC How do tumors recruit blood vessels? How does anti-angiogenic therapy work? See online version for legend and references.

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in African children, and factors that determine the development of uncomplicated (UM) versus cerebral malaria (CM) are not fully understood. We studied the ex vivo responsiveness of microvascular endothelial cells to pro-inflammatory stimulation and compared the findings between CM and UM patients. In patients with fatal ...

Background: The immune-mediated responses in vascular cells may include the increased expression of endothelial adhesion molecules, leukocyte rolling and infiltration, cellular lipid dysregulation and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) differentiation. Investigating the cellular and molecular events involved in the rolling process is useful for treatment or prevention of the vessel stenosis es...