There is a high mortality in patients with diabetes and severe pressure ulcers. For example, chronic pressure sores of the heels often lead to limb loss in diabetic patients. A major factor underlying this is reduced neovascularization caused by impaired activity of the transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α). In diabetes, HIF-1α function is compromised by a high glucose-...

A decline in oxygen concentration perturbs endothelial function, which promotes local thrombosis. In this study, we determined whether hypoxia in the range of that observed in pathophysiological hypoxic states stimulates plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) production in bovine aortic endothelial cells. PAI-1 production, measured by ELISA, was increased by 4.7-fold (P,0.05 versus normoxic ...