Young women using depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) contraception have low circulating estrogen and elevated synthetic progestin. Low estrogen and certain progestins have been shown to impact endothelial function even in young healthy women. The purpose of this study was to investigate how DMPA affects endothelial function and serum biomarkers of cardiovascular risk before and after acut...

Hypertension is associated with low plasma ascorbic acid levels and impaired endothelial function. Recent evidence suggests that increased vascular oxidative stress contributes to the pathophysiology of endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. We recently showed that chronic oral ascorbic acid therapy lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients. We hypothesized that it would also improve en...

BACKGROUND Reperfusion is mandatory after ischaemia, but it also triggers ischaemia-reperfusion (IR)-injury. It is currently unknown whether heart failure alters the magnitude of IR-injury. Ischaemic preconditioning can limit IR-injury. Since ischaemic preconditioning is typically applied in subjects at risk for cardiovascular complications, it is of clinical importance to understand its effica...

BACKGROUND Endothelial dysfunction is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events. Inflammatory mediators released by the adipose tissue can lead to local insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction. This study addressed the relationship of adipocytokines with endothelial function and blood pressure. METHODS In 92 newly diagnosed, drug-naïve essential hypertensive patients (HT, me...

BACKGROUND Although evidence suggests adverse vascular changes among women with hot flashes, it is unknown whether hot flashes are associated with subclinical cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to examine relations between menopausal hot flashes and indices of subclinical cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that women with hot flashes would show reduced flow-mediated dilation...

BACKGROUND Chronic mental and physical stress has been suggested to be a trigger for cardiovascular events. In addition, a reduction in levels of intracellular magnesium has been reported to cause vasoconstriction while enhancing platelet-dependent thrombosis. HYPOTHESIS The purpose of this study was to investigate whether chronic stress affects endothelial function and intracellular magnesiu...

Effects of extraluminal UTP were studied and compared with vascular responses to ATP and its analogs in rat cerebral-penetrating arterioles. UTP, UDP, 2-methylthio-ATP, and alpha,beta-methylene-ATP dilated arterioles at the lowest concentration and constricted them at high concentrations. Low concentrations of ATP dilated the vessels; high concentrations caused a biphasic response, with transie...

OBJECTIVE Reduced iron stores after blood donation are associated with improved vascular function and decreased cardiovascular risk. We sought to determine whether iron-dependent changes in glucose metabolism may contribute to improved vascular function in blood donors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study in 21 high-frequency blood donors (more than ei...

OBJECTIVE Reactive hyperemia is the compensatory increase in blood flow that occurs after a period of tissue ischemia, and this response is blunted in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. The predictive value of reactive hyperemia for cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerosis and the relative importance of reactive hyperemia compared with other measures of vascular function h...

Nitric oxide plays a pivotal role in regulating vascular tone. Different studies show endothelial function is impaired during hyperglycemia. Dark chocolate increases flow-mediated dilation in healthy and hypertensive subjects with and without glucose intolerance; however, the effect of pretreatment with dark chocolate on endothelial function and other vascular responses to hyperglycemia has not...