Medium conditioned by silica-stimulated human peripheral blood monocytes expresses vascular suppressive activity. Rat aortic rings, after incubation in conditioned medium, exhibited comprised contraction to stimulation by norepinephrine (NE). Maximal contraction (300 +/- 51 mg tension/mg tissue) and sensitivity (-5.91 +/- 0.23 M [log EC50]) were both reduced in comparison to contraction (762 +/...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether superoxide anion is produced endogenously in the rat aortic adventitia and whether sufficient superoxide anion is produced to interfere with the response of the rat aorta to nitric oxide. Relaxation was measured in rings of the rat thoracic aorta, which were oriented so that the adventitial or luminal surface could be preferentially exposed to ...

UNLABELLED Overproduction of free radicals in ageing tissues induces nitro-oxidative stress, which has been implicated in the functional decline of the cardiovascular system at old age. Toxic oxidants like hydrogen peroxide or peroxynitrite damage proteins and DNA and activate several pathways causing tissue injury, including the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) pathway. AIM First, we teste...

Ligusticum jeholense has been used as the traditional medicine 'Go-Bon' (Chinese name, Gao-ben) in China and Korea. Considering the increased use of medicinal herbs to treat hypertension, in this study, we aimed to investigate the mechanisms of the vasorelaxation effect caused by L. jeholense. We tested the methanol (MeOH) extract of L. jeholense root and rhizoma for vasorelaxant effects; while...

Ethanol has been reported to cause hypertension, the mechanism of which is unknown. Therefore, the effect of chronic ethanol consumption on vascular responsiveness and blood pressure was investigated. Systolic blood pressure was recorded weekly by tail-cuff method. Aortic rings from rats fed chow ad libitum or pair-fed liquid diets containing either ethanol (7.2% v/v) or isocaloric carbohydrate...