RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Endothelium and Its Role in Regulating Vascular Tone
Aamer Sandoo1, 2, *, Jet J.C.S Veldhuijzen van Zanten1, 2, George S Metsios2, Douglas Carroll1, George D Kitas1, 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 302
Last Page: 312
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-4-302
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401004010302
Article History:
Received Date: 5/11/2010Revision Received Date: 22/11/2010
Acceptance Date: 23/11/2010
Electronic publication date: 23/12/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
The endothelium forms an important part of the vasculature and is involved in promoting an atheroprotective environment via the complementary actions of endothelial cell-derived vasoactive factors. Disruption of vascular homeostasis can lead to the development of endothelial dysfunction which in turn contributes to the early and late stages of atherosclerosis. In recent years an increasing number of non-invasive vascular tests have been developed to assess vascular structure and function in different clinical populations. The present review aims to provide an insight into the anatomy of the vasculature as well as the underlying endothelial cell physiology. In addition, an in-depth overview of the current methods used to assess vascular function and structure is provided as well as their link to certain clinical populations.
