BACKGROUND End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is strongly associated with arterial calcification of the tunica media, decreased vascular compliance and sudden cardiac death. Here, we analysed the distribution pattern of uraemic media calcification and concomitant inflammation in mice and men. METHODS Uraemia was induced in DBA/2 mice with high-phosphate diet. Subsequently, we analysed arterial me...

background: hyperlipidemia and oxidized-low-density lipoproteins (ox-ldl) are important independent cardiovascular risk factors that have been shown to stimulate vascular smooth muscle cell (vsmc) proliferation. the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of vitamin e on ox-ldl, lipid profile, c-reactive protein (crp), and vsmc proliferation of rat aorta. methods: male wistar...

We previously demonstrated that indoxyl sulfate (IS), a uremic toxin, induces aortic calcification in hypertensive rats and induces oxidative stress and the expression of osteoblast-specific proteins in vascular smooth muscle cells. This study aimed to clarify whether IS stimulates senescence of cultured human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) and aorta in Dahl salt-sensitive hypertensive rat...

OBJECTIVE To examine the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), smooth muscle 22α (SM22α), and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and their possible roles in aortic dissections (AD). MATERIALS AND METHODS Male SD rats (3 weeks) were induced for AD using 0.25% β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) treatment for 6 weeks and were subsequently divided into the model I (with AD) and model...

For decades, it was believed that the diameter of gastrointestinal smooth muscle cells is sufficiently narrow, and that the diffusion of calcium across the plasma membrane is sufficient, to support contractile activity. Thus, depolarization-triggered release of intracellular calcium was not believed to be operative in gastrointestinal smooth muscle. However, after the incubation of muscle segme...

The effect of dietary sodium restriction on the responses to norepinephrine and angiotensin was assessed in two vascular smooth muscle preparations in the rabbit. Sodium restriction reduced the response to angiotensin of both the limb vessels in vivo and the aorta in vitro. The response to norepinephrine was potentiated by sodium restriction in both preparations. The effects on angiotensin resp...

The vascular smooth muscle cell plays a significant role in many important cardiovascular disorders, and smooth muscle biology is therefore important to cardiovascular research. The mouse is critical to basic cardiovascular research, largely because techniques for genetic manipulation are more fully developed in the mouse than in any other mammalian species. We describe here a technique for iso...

Crocin, a component of saffron, showed hypotensive which is perhaps due to vascular smooth muscle relaxant effect. The relaxant effects of saffron on tracheal smooth muscle also could be due to its constituent, crocin. In the present study, the relaxant effects of crocin and its possible mechanisms on rat tracheal smooth muscle were investigated. The relaxant effects of three cumulative concent...