BACKGROUND Vascular calcification accompanying chronic kidney disease increases the mortality and morbidity associated with cardiovascular disorders, but no effective therapy is available. We hypothesized that glycosaminoglycans may contribute to osteoblastic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells during vascular calcification. METHODS AND RESULTS We used exostosin-like glycosyltranf...

The endothelium is a source of reactive oxygen species in short-term models of hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis. We examined a chronic model of atherosclerosis for increased vascular production of superoxide (O2-.) and determined whether endothelial overexpression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) would improve endothelium-dependent relaxation. Superoxide generation was 3 times higher in is...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Pharmacological antihypertensive therapies decrease both wall hypertrophy and collagen, but are unable to diminish the elastic content in the thoracic aorta. We investigated the effects of exercise training on aortic structure and function. METHODS Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive rats (WKY), submitted to low-intensity training (T) or kept sedentary (S), ...

Polyploidy is characterized by a greater than diploid content of DNA in a cell. Previous measurements of ploidy level in different organs of humans and rodents, including the aorta, indicated an increase in old versus young. We hypothesized that aortic vascular smooth muscle polyploidy is a biomarker for aging and that the augmented DNA dosage affects selective gene-specific transcript expressi...

OBJECTIVE Active control of the arterial diameter by vascular smooth muscle is one of the principle mechanisms by which vessels adapt to a significant rise in blood pressure after birth. Although voltage-gated K+ (Kv) channels play an important role in the regulation of excitation-contraction coupling in arteries, very little is known about postnatal modification of Kv channels. We therefore in...

Background/Aims This study investigated the effects of sitagliptin on migration, proliferation, calcification and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) under high glucose (HG) conditions. Methods VSMCs were isolated from the thoracic aorta of Sprague Dawley rats. The cultured VSMCs were subjected to control medium, mannitol medium, HG medium (25 mM), pretreatment with 200 nM sitag...

INTRODUCTION Bicuspid aortic valve disease (BAV) is the most common congenital cardiac malformation occurring in 1-2% of the general population [1] [2]. Normally, the aortic valve is separated into 3 valves. However, BAV involves fusing of the valvular leaflets during development, resulting in a 2-valve structure instead of the normal 3-valve structure. BAV predisposes patients to a thoracic ao...

Normal ascending aorta functions as an elastic reservoir to enhance arterial flow. It stores energy during systole and dissipates it during diastole. The medial layer of the aorta consisting of elastin, collagen, and smooth muscle cells ensures the elasticity of the aortic wall. The ascending segment of the aorta is more elastic than the descending segment, due to its greater concentration of e...

The cellular distribution of the alpha-vascular and gamma-enteric smooth muscle actin isoforms was analyzed in rat embryos from gestational day (gd) 8 through the first neonatal week by in situ antigen localization using isoactin specific monoclonal antibodies. The alpha-vascular actin isoform was first detected on gd 10 in discrete cells lining the embryonic vasculature. By gd 14, this isoform...