Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2011
Journal/Book/Conference Title
PLOS ONE
Volume
6
DOI of Original Publication
10.1371/journal.pone.0021817
Date of Submission
November 2014
Abstract
Background
Hypertension is, amongst others, characterized by endothelial dysfunction and vascular remodeling. As sphingolipids have been implicated in both the regulation of vascular contractility and growth, we investigated whether sphingolipid biology is altered in hypertension and whether this is reflected in altered vascular function.
Methods and Findings
In isolated carotid arteries from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, shifting the ceramide/S1P ratio towards ceramide dominance by administration of a sphingosine kinase inhibitor (dimethylsphingosine) or exogenous application of sphingomyelinase, induced marked endothelium-dependent contractions in SHR vessels (DMS: 1.4±0.4 and SMase: 2.1±0.1 mN/mm; n = 10), that were virtually absent in WKY vessels (DMS: 0.0±0.0 and SMase: 0.6±0.1 mN/mm; n = 9, p
Conclusions
Hypertension is associated with marked alterations in vascular sphingolipid biology such as elevated ceramide levels and signaling, that contribute to increased vascular tone.
Rights
Copyright: © 2011 Spijkers et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Is Part Of
VCU Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications
Supporting Information
Comments
Originally Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021817