Heterogeneous behavior of the canine arterial and venous wall. Importance of the endothelium
J. G. De Mey, P. M. Vanhoutte

During the period when the regulatory functions of the endothelium and its role in pathophysiological conditions such as hypertension and atherosclerosis were being discovered, this paper was the first to precisely characterize the heterogeneous response of vessels of various origins to vasoactive substances...

Endothelium-dependent contractions to acetylcholine in the aorta of the spontaneously hypertensive rat
T. F. Lüscher, P. M. Vanhoutte

Six years following the discovery of the endothelium- derived relaxing factor (EDRF), and even before it was demonstrated that nitric oxide was one among several EDRF candidates by Moncada’s group in 1987, this paper hypothesized the existence of endothelium-derived vasoconstricting factors (EDCFs)...

A novel potent vasoconstrictor peptide produced by vascular endothelial cells
M. Yanagisawa, H. Kurihara, S. Kimura, Y. Tomobe, M. Kobayashi, Y. Mitsui, Y. Yazaki, K. Goto, T. Masaki

This landmark study was the first to describe a new vasoconstrictor peptide whose existence had been previously postulated by other groups...

Superoxide anion is an endothelium-derived contracting factor
Z. S. Katusic, P. M. Vanhoutte

Katusic and Vanhoutte published one of the first scientific papers, after the discovery of the vasodilatory effects of NO, that clearly demonstrated that endothelium-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) contributed in a significant way to the regulation of vascular tone...

Role of endothelium-derived nitric oxide in the regulation of blood pressure
D. D. Rees, R. M. Palmer, S. Moncada

Rees and colleagues were the first to describe increases in blood pressure in response to inhibition of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)...

Contraction of diabetic rabbit aorta caused by endothelium-derived PGH2-TxA2
B. Tesfamariam, J. A. Jakubowski, R. A. Cohen

In this paper, Tesfamariam and colleagues provided the first evidence that release of endotheliumderived prostaglandin H2–thromboxane A2 (PGH2- TxA2) was responsible for endothelial dysfunction and endothelium-dependent constriction in the setting of diabetes mellitus...

Thromboxane A2 receptor antagonists inhibit endothelium-dependent contractions
W. Auch-Schwelk, Z. S. Katusic, P. M. Vanhoutte

This paper addresses the mechanisms underlying reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced vasoconstriction, with focus on the cyclooxygenase pathway...

Vasodilation to acetylcholine in primary and secondary forms of human hypertension
S. Taddei, A. Virdis, P. Mattei, A. Salvetti

In this interesting study performed in patients with various etiologies of hypertension, the authors demonstrated that endothelial dysfunction was markedly improved by indomethacin, suggesting that a cyclooxygenase-dependent vasoconstrictor mechanism participates, at least in part, in the blunting of the vasodilator effects of the endothelium-dependent vasodilator acetylcholine...

Endothelium-dependent contractions are associated with both augmented expression of prostaglandin H synthase-1 and hypersensitivity to prostaglandin H2 in the SHR aorta
T. Ge, H. Hughes, D. C. Junquero, K. K. Wu, P. M. Vanhoutte, C. M. Boulanger

In this comprehensive study, the group of P. M. Vanhoutte carefully investigated the effects of various components of the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway on vascular tone, in the wake of a previous discovery by the same group demonstrating the importance of prostaglandins in the pathological vasomotion observed in essential hypertension...

Oxygen-derived free radicals mediate endothelium-dependent contractions to acetylcholine in aortas from spontaneously hypertensive rats
D. Yang, M. Feletou, C. M. Boulanger, H. F. Wu, N. Levens, J. N. Zhang, P. M. Vanhoutte

Building on their earlier observations on the role of prostaglandins in the regulation of vascular tone, this remarkable study by P. M. Vanhoutte’s group tested whether reactive oxygen species (ROS) could account for endothelium-dependent contractions in response to acetylcholine...