The transforming growth factor-β/bone morphogenic protein (BMP) system is a major pathway for angiogenesis and is involved in hereditary vascular diseases. Here we report that the gene encoding the vasoactive and vascular cell growth-regulating peptide apelin is a target of the BMP pathway. We demonstrate that apelin expression is strongly downregulated by BMP in an endothelial cell line as wel...

We read the article “Apelin Levels In Isolated Coronary Artery Ectasia” written by Bilik et al.1) The study aimed to determine the relationship between plasma apelin levels and isolated coronary artery ectasia. They concluded that patients with isolated coronary artery ectasia (CAE) have decreased plasma apelin levels compared with the control group. CAE is well known as an atherosclerotic proc...

OBJECTIVE To investigate possible correlations between apelin-12 levels and obesity in children in China and associations between apelin-12 and obesity-related markers, including lipids, insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR). METHODS Forty-eight obese and forty non-obese age- and gender-matched Chinese children were enrolled between June 2008 and June 2009. Mean age was 1...

Acute inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenic progression of post-ischemic neuronal damage. Apelin-13 has been investigated as a neuropeptide for various neurological disorders. The present study was performed to evaluate the effects of apelin-13 on the inflammation of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Transient focal I/R model in male Wistar rats were induced by 2h mid...

Apelin, a novel peptide originally isolated from bovine stomach tissue extracts, is widely but selectively distributed throughout the nervous system. Vasopressin and oxytocin are synthesized in the magnocellular neurons of the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus (SON) and paraventricular nucleus, which are apelin-rich regions in the central nervous system. We made extracellular electrophysiological...

OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS, THERE has been considerable interest in the elucidation of factors that mediate angiogenesis. These efforts led to the identification of factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-1 and -2), and angiopoietins, to name a few. Subsequent detailed investigations have revealed that finely tuned and precisely coor...

Glioblastoma are highly aggressive brain tumours that are associated with an extremely poor prognosis. Within these tumours exists a subpopulation of highly plastic self-renewing cancer cells that retain the ability to expand ex vivo as tumourspheres, induce tumour growth in mice, and have been implicated in radio- and chemo-resistance. Although their identity and fate are regulated by external...

Angiogenesis is tightly associated with the outgrowth of adipose tissue, leading to obesity, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and hypertension, mainly because expanding adipose tissue requires an increased nutrient supply from blood vessels. Therefore, induction of vessel abnormality by adipokines has been well-studied, whereas how altered vascular function promotes obesity is relativ...

BACKGROUND Apelin is among the most potent stimulators of cardiac contractility known. However, no physiological or pathological role for apelin-angiotensin receptor-like 1 (APJ) signaling has ever been described. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed transcriptional profiling using a spotted cDNA microarray with 12 814 unique clones on paired samples of left ventricle obtained before and after pl...