I N 1985, a review article appeared in this journal that examined the interactions of leukocytes with vascular endothelium during an immune or inflammatory response.’ The basic physiology of leukocyte emigration as well as disease states in which alterations of leukocyte-endothelial interactions may contribute to pathology were discussed. Since then there has been an explosion of interest in th...

BACKGROUND Xuezhikang is the extract of red yeast rice, which has been widely used for the management of atherosclerotic disease, but the molecular basis of its antiatherosclerotic effects has not yet been fully identified. Here we investigated the changes of eNOS in vascular endothelia and RBCs, eNOS regulatory factor Caveolin-1 in endothelia, and hemorheological parameters in atherosclerotic ...

Connexin 43 (Cx43) has been reported to be expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. Evidence for possible variations in Cx43 distribution within different parts of the vascular system is limited. We have therefore investigated the expression of Cx43 in the endothelia and media of 11 vessels of different size and function in the rat, using immunofluorescence and confocal ...

Planar and apical-basal cellular polarization of epithelia and endothelia are crucial during morphogenesis. The establishment of these distinct polarity states and their transitions are regulated by signaling networks that include polarity complexes, Rho GTPases, and phosphoinositides. The spatiotemporal coordination of signaling by these molecules modulates cytoskeletal remodeling and vesicle ...

Vascular endothelial cells are linked by gap junctions, which facilitate the propagation of electrical and chemical signals along the vessel wall. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution and identity of the gap junction structural proteins (connexins) expressed by endothelial cells in situ. Connexin expression in different regions of the rat aortic endothelium was analyzed with ...

Endothelium differentiates in response to tissue-specific signals; brain endothelium expresses tight junctions and transporters which are absent from other endothelia. The promoter of the tight junction protein occludin exhibited strong activity in a brain endothelial cell line, hCMEC/D3 but was inactive in lung endothelial cells. Expression of occludin in brain endothelium corresponded with bi...

Cardiac atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) modulate blood pressure and volume by activation of the receptor guanylyl cyclase-A (GC-A) and subsequent intracellular cGMP formation. Here we report what we believe to be a novel function of these peptides as paracrine regulators of vascular regeneration. In mice with systemic deletion of the GC-A gene, vascular reg...

Mouse mAb MS-1, raised against human spleen, detects an endothelial cell antigen abundantly expressed by the sinusoidal endothelia of spleen, lymph node, liver, and adrenal cortex, but absent from nonsinusoidal continuous endothelia in these organs. Immunoelectron microscopy of splenic tissue demonstrates that the MS-1 antigen is predominantly deposited at zones of intercellular contact between...

BACKGROUND Porcine xenografts are a promising source of scarce transplantable organs, but stimulate intense thrombosis of human blood despite targeted genetic and pharmacologic interventions. Current experimental models do not enable study of the blood/endothelial interface to investigate adhesive interactions and thrombosis at the cellular level under physiologic conditions. The purpose of thi...

The endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) has a critical role in controlling lymphocyte traffic into the central nervous system (CNS), both in physiological immunosurveillance, and in its pathological aberrations. The intercellular signals that possibly could induce lymphocytes to cross the BBB include immunogenic presentation of protein (auto-)antigens by BBB endothelia to circulating T lympho...