MINIREVIEW
Role of Endothelium and Nitric Oxide in Experimental
Hypertension
H. VAPAATALO, E. MERVAALA,
M.-L. NURMINEN
Department of Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius
University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, 1Third Department of
Physiology, JW Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Received July 30, 1999
Accepted September 21, 1999
Summary
A short review on the role of endothelium and nitric oxide (NO)
in experimental hypertension is presented in the light of the
literature and our own recent findings. Based on these data, it
is concluded that even though there is a lot of evidence in
favor of the primary and causal association of endothelial
dysfunction and NO in experimental hypertension, it seems still
more plausible that they are causative in some types of
hypertension only. Our own experience rather speaks for a
secondary but still an important participation of endothelium in
the maintenance and further elevation of high blood pressure.
Endothelium plays a key role in the development of organ damages
in hypertension.
Key
words
Endothelium • Dysfunction • Nitric oxide • Hypertension •
Antihypertensive drugs
Reprint requests
Reprint
requests
Heikki Vapaatalo, MD, Professor of Pharmacology, Department of
Pharmacology and Toxicology, Institute of Biomedicine,
University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 8, FIN-00014, Helsinki,
Finland, e-mail:
hvapaata@penger.helsinki.fi.
|