BACKGROUND Adiponectin is an adipokine with insulin-sensitising and anti-atherogenic properties. The aim of this study was to investigate whether low adiponectin levels predict the impairment of endothelial function in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients in an 8-year prospective study. METHODS In the prospective study, we enrolled 133 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients without subc...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this in vivo study was to compare the incidence of vasodilation in guinea pigs following topical administration of bimatoprost ophthalmic solutions 0.01% and 0.03%. METHODS The study comprised 20 guinea pigs assigned to 2 treatment groups (10 per treatment group) to receive either bimatoprost 0.01% or bimatoprost 0.03%. Animals were hand-held under 2.75 x magnificat...

In the peripheral circulation, nitric oxide (NO) is released in response to shear stress across vascular endothelial cells. We sought to assess the degree to which NO contributes to exercise-induced vasodilation in the brachial artery (BA) and to determine the potential of this approach to noninvasively evaluate NO bioavailability. In eight young (25 ± 1 yr) healthy volunteers, we used ultrasou...

PURPOSE Intravenous lipid emulsions have been used to treat the systemic toxicity of local anesthetics. The goal of this in vitro study was to examine the effects of lipid emulsions on the norepinephrine-mediated reversal of vasodilation induced by high doses of levobupivacaine, ropivacaine, and mepivacaine in isolated endothelium-denuded rat aorta, and to determine whether such effects are ass...

Katakam PV, Gordon AO, Sure VN, Rutkai I, Busija DW. Diversity of mitochondria-dependent dilator mechanisms in vascular smooth muscle of cerebral arteries from normal and insulin-resistant rats. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 307: H493–H503, 2014. First published June 14, 2014; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00091.2014.—Mitochondrial depolarization following ATP-sensitive potassium (mitoKATP) channel ac...

To clarify the vascular endothelial function in pregnant women with hypertensive disorders, we assessed the flow-mediated vasodilation in the radial artery and compared it with plasma fibronectin levels. We determined flow-mediated vasodilation by measuring the change in radial artery diameter during hyperemia in 58 normal pregnant women, 22 preeclamptic pregnant women, and 15 pregnant women wi...

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 +/- ...

Animal studies suggest that some angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors augment endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. We aimed to determine if captopril augments endothelium-dependent vasodilation in middle-aged hypertensive patients. By using strain-gauge plethysmography, forearm vasodilation evoked with intra-arterial acetylcholine (4, 8, 16, and 24 micrograms/min) or nitroprusside (0.2, 0....

This study determined the role of nitric oxide (NO) in neurogenic vasodilation in mesenteric resistance arteries of the toad Bufo marinus. NO synthase (NOS) was anatomically demonstrated in perivascular nerves, but not in the endothelium. ACh and nicotine caused TTX-sensitive neurogenic vasodilation of mesenteric arteries. The ACh-induced vasodilation was endothelium-independent and was mediate...