There is a difference in the susceptibility to inflammation between the umbilical vein (UV) and the umbilical arteries (UAs). This led us to hypothesize that there is an intrinsic difference in the pro-inflammatory response between UA and UV. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR and microarray analysis revealed higher expression of interleukin (IL)-1beta and IL-8 mRNA in the UV and differential expres...

Arterial compliance (C) has been measured in 18 children known to have had a single umbilical artery at birth. Non-invasive ultrasonic Doppler techniques were used to measure C for the aorta, iliac, and leg arteries. Anomalous compliance was found between the two iliac vessels, and it is suggested that this is the result of haemodynamic stress-induced changes during development. The demonstrati...

Examination of umbilical arteries and veins, and vessels in placental villi was carried out by electronmicroscopy in smoking and non-smoking mothers. Severe vascular changes were found in the smoking group. These findings suggest that similar changes may be present in the vessels of the newborn child. Stopping pregnant women from smoking may help to prevent CHD in their children in later life.

Umbilical artery catheters have been associated with thrombotic complications, such as partial or complete occlusion in the aorta, the renal arteries, and other blood vessels. There have been few reports of the long-term consequences of either symptomatic or asymptomatic thrombi. We report a patient, now 22 years of age, born with a normal aorta, who developed hypertension at the age of 2 month...

Trypanosoma cruzi infection causes cardiomyopathy and vasculopathy. Previous studies have demonstrated that infection of human umbilical vein endothelial and smooth muscle cells resulted in activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). In the present study, smooth muscle cells were infected with trypomastigotes, and immunoblot analysis revealed an increase in the expression of cycl...

OBJECTIVE We hypothesized that maternal and fetal circulations may be affected by moderately high altitudes. Therefore, we compared the differences in maternal and fetal Doppler flow parameters in women with term pregnancy living at a moderately high altitude (1890 m in Erzurum) with those of women living at the sea level (31 m in İstanbul). MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighty women (n=40, for each g...

OBJECTIVE Anti-endothelial cell antibodies in serum of patients with different inflammatory diseases can be detected by a whole cell enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay, using primary cultures of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. To avoid repeated isolation, it would be of great value if an immortal endothelial cell line could be used to perform anti-endothelial cell antibody assays. METH...

Beblo, S., K. D. Stark, et al. (2005). "Effects of alcohol intake during pregnancy on docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid in umbilical cord vessels of black women." Pediatrics 115(2): E194-E203. OBJECTIVE: Alcohol influences the intake and metabolism of several nutrients including long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs). The LC-PUFAs docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic ac...

OBJECTIVE Vascular endothelial-cadherin- and integrin-based cell adhesions are crucial for endothelial barrier function. Formation and disassembly of these adhesions controls endothelial remodeling during vascular repair, angiogenesis, and inflammation. In vitro studies indicate that vascular cytokines control adhesion through regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, but it remains unknown whether...

The risk for an adverse pregnancy outcome is markedly higher in women with history of preeclampsia. This may stem from impaired placentation in early gestation and from high impedance to flow in uteroplacental circulation. The renin-angiotensin system is one of the mediators of the remodeling of spiral arteries throughout pregnancy. The D allele of the Insertion/Deletion (I/D) polymorphism in t...