Effects of laminar shear stress versus resveratrol on the citrulline-NO cycle in endothelial cells.docVIP

Advances in Biological Chemistry, 2013, 3, 18-25 ABC /10.4236/abc.2013.31003 Published Online February 2013 (/journal/abc/) Effects of laminar shear stress versus resveratrol on the citrulline-NO cycle in endothelial cells Sue Im Jang, Yong Chool Boo * Department of Molecular Medicine, Cell and Matrix Research Institute, BK21 Medical Education Program for Human Resources, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea * Email: ycboo@knu.ac.kr Received 16 October 2012; revised 17 November 2012; accepted 26 November 2012 ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION Laminar shear stress (LSS) due to pulsatile blood flow enhances endothelial function by multiple me- chanisms including NO production. Red wine and its constituent, resveratrol, have also been postulated to provide vascular protective effects. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of mechani- cal LSS and pharmacological resveratrol treatments on the endothelial citrulline-NO cycle. Human um- The endothelium, a monolayer of endothelial cells cov- ering the internal surface of blood vessels, cardiac valves, and numerous body cavities, provides a semi-permeable barrier between circulating blood and the rest of the ves- sel wall [1]. It plays a key role in vascular physiology through production of a variety of substances involved in vasodilatation, blood coagulation, inflammation and im- mune response [2]. Therefore, the structural and func- tional integrities of the endothelium are essential for vascular health. bilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with LSS (12 dyn·cm?2) or resveratrol (25 - 100 μM). Nitric oxide (NO) produced by nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) in the endothelium plays a key role in vascular physiology. NO regulates vascular tone as “endothelium- derived relaxing factor” [3] and inhibits the atherogenic events such as endothelial cell injury and activation, ad- hesion