Vaskulárna medicína 1-2/2012

Endothelial function in experimental hypertension

Endothelium is cellular monolayer that represents the dynamic organ, which covers the luminal surface of the each blood vessel and thus forms a physical and metabolic barrier. For more than three decades the cardiovascular research has been focused on the endothelium and its function. Reduced production and bioavailability of endothelium-derived relaxing factors in the vascular system may results in hypertension, but the cellular mechanisms involved in the development of endothelial dysfunction in hypertension are not yet completely understood. Additionally, the effect of hypertension on endothelial function is still ambiguous. Moreover, there is a lack of data on endothelial function in borderline hypertension. Thus, the aim of this paper was to review studies available on the endothelial function in the hypertensive experimental animals as well as to show some of our recent results from in vitro experiments.

Keywords: endothelium, nitric oxide, endothelial dysfunction, spontaneously hypertensive rat, borderline hypertensive rat.