Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The endothelium describes the layer of cells that line the inside of our blood vessels. The overall state of these cells, referred to as endothelial function, is regulated by the diffusible gas nitric oxide, a molecule that controls blood pressure and other functions. Therefore, the endothelium plays an important role in blood vessel health where a dysfunctional endothelium is associated with numerous cardiovascular diseases. Unfortunately, no drugs exist on the market today designed to improve endothelial function. We have recently discovered that a group of related blood pressure lowering medication are able to greatly increase endothelial function in a manner that is unrelated to their blood pressure lowering effects. In this study, we have shown that these drugs can also prevent the progression of aortic aneurysm, which is the dilation of the blood vessel that supplies blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Using a well established mouse model of aortic aneurysm, we have also shown that these blood pressure lowering drugs can prevent blood vessel remodeling by increasing the level of nitric oxide within the aortic wall, and not by lowering blood pressure. This study opens a new direction for the use of selected blood pressure lowering drugs at a much lower dose as a preventive therapy in many forms of vascular diseases where a dysfunctional endothelium is present.