Special issue: Responsible writing in science

En dot he li ns (ET) are a group of en do ge nous pep ti des, whi ch ha ve a stro ng and lo ng-las ti ng va so con stric ti ve eff e ct. Three iso for ms of en dot he li ns co ded by three diff e re nt ge nes ha ve been iden ti fi ed to da te. En dot he li n-1 (ET-1) is the mo st po te nt va so con stric ti ve age nt cur ren tly iden ti fi ed, and it was ori gi nal ly iso la ted and cha rac te ri zed from the cul tu re me dia of aor tic en dot he lial cel ls. Two ot her iso for ms, named en dot he li n-2 (ET-2) and en dot he li n-3 (ET-3), we re sub sequen tly iden ti fi ed, alo ng wi th struc tu ral ho mo lo gues iso la ted from the ve nom of Ac trac ta pis en gad den sis known as the sa ra fo toxi ns. The bio lo gi cal eff ec ts of en dot he lin pro duc tion are de ter mi ned via ac ti va tion of one or two G-pro tein coup led re cep to rs, en dot helin re cep to rs A (ETRA) and B (ET R B1 and ET R B2). Re cen tly en dot he lin re cep tor C (ETRC) was dis co ve red, howe ver, its fun ctio ns and dis tri bu tion sti ll re main un clear. The eff ec ts me dia ted by ET-1 via ETRA are va so con stric tion, bron cho con stric tion and sec re tion of al dos te ro ne. Ago nis ts re la ted to the ET R B1 ac ti va tion cau se va so di la ta tion by sti mu la ti ng NO, PGI2 and en dot he liu m-de ri ved hyper po la ri zi ng fac tor (EDHF). In con tra st, coup li ng to ET R B2 causes va so con stric tion. In vol ve me nt of ET has been de mon stra ted in the pat hop hysio lo gy of cer tain di sor de rs. In this re view, we dis cu ss the physio lo gi cal and pat hop hysio lo gi cal ro le of en dot he liu m-de ri ved ET-1, the phar ma co lo gy of its two re cep to rs, fo cu si ng on the ro le of ET-1 in the deve lop me nt of so me pat hop hysio lo gi cal con di tio ns. Key wor ds: en dot he lin 1; en dot he lin re cep tor; en dot he lin re cep tor an ta go ni st; en dot he lin con ver ti ng en zyme