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Articles |
Wynn Department of Metabolic Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, London, UK.
Oestrogen is believed to possess cardiovascular protective properties. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor and mitogen for vascular smooth muscle cells. We have investigated release of ET-1 from human endothelial cells in response to 17 beta-oestradiol. Serum was found to stimulate significantly ET-1 release during the first 4 h of culture. 17 beta-Oestradiol significantly reduced ET-1 immunoreactivity in the media of treated cells by up to 49% of control values after 4 h. This effect was found to be inversely related to the dose of 17 beta-oestradiol. Significant dose-dependent increases in nitric oxide synthase expression were observed in response to oestrogen after 24 h but not after 4 h. Serum-free experiments demonstrated that low doses of oestrogen were able to inhibit thrombin-induced ET-1 release whilst supraphysiological levels did not. These results provide a further perspective on the ability of oestrogens to maintain vascular health.
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