Atherosclerosis begins in childhood, progresses silently through a long preclinical stage, and eventually manifests clinically, usually from middle age. Over the last 30 years, it has become clear that the initiation and progression of disease, and its later activation to increase the risk of morbid events, depends on profound dynamic changes in vascular biology.1 The endothelium has emerged as the key regulator of vascular homeostasis, in that it has not merely a barrier function but also acts as an active signal transducer for circulating influences that modify the vessel wall phenotype.2 Alteration in endothelial function precedes the development of morphological atherosclerotic changes and can also contribute to lesion development and later clinical complications.3

Appreciation of the central role of the endothelium throughout the atherosclerotic disease process has led to the development of a range of methods to test different aspects of its function, which include measures of both endothelial injury and repair. These have provided not only novel insights into pathophysiology, but also a clinical opportunity to detect early disease, quantify risk, judge response to interventions designed to prevent progression of early disease, and reduce later adverse events in patients.

The present review summarizes current understanding of endothelial biology in health and disease, the strengths and weaknesses of current testing strategies, and their potential applications in clinical research and patient care.

Although only a simple monolayer, the healthy endothelium is optimally placed and is able to respond to physical and chemical signals by production of a wide range of factors that regulate vascular tone, cellular adhesion, thromboresistance, smooth muscle cell proliferation, and vessel wall inflammation. The importance of the endothelium was first recognized by its effect on vascular tone. This is achieved by production and release of several vasoactive molecules that relax or constrict the vessel, as …

Endothelial Function and Dysfunction Testing and Clinical Relevance

The endogenous cannabinoid receptor agonist anandamide is a powerful vasodilator of isolated vascular preparations, but its mechanism of action is unclear. Here we show that the vasodilator response to anandamide in isolated arteries is capsaicin-sensitive and accompanied by release of calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP). The selective CGRP-receptor antagonist 8-37 CGRP, but not the cannabinoid CB1 receptor blocker SR141716A, inhibited the vasodilator effect of anandamide. Other endogenous (2-arachidonylglycerol, palmitylethanolamide) and synthetic (HU 210, WIN 55,212-2, CP 55,940) CB1 and CB2 receptor agonists could not mimic the action of anandamide. The selective 'vanilloid receptor' antagonist capsazepine inhibited anandamide-induced vasodilation and release of CGRP. In patch-clamp experiments on cells expressing the cloned vanilloid receptor (VR1), anandamide induced a capsazepine-sensitive current in whole cells and isolated membrane patches. Our results indicate that anandamide induces vasodilation by activating vanilloid receptors on perivascular sensory nerves and causing release of CGRP. The vanilloid receptor may thus be another molecular target for endogenous anandamide, besides cannabinoid receptors, in the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Vanilloid receptors on sensory nerves mediate the vasodilator action of anandamide

This review examines the properties and roles of the four types of K+ channels that have been identified in the cell membrane of arterial smooth muscle cells. 1) Voltage-dependent K+ (KV) channels increase their activity with membrane depolarization and are important regulators of smooth muscle membrane potential in response to depolarizing stimuli. 2) Ca(2+)-activated K+ (KCa) channels respond to changes in intracellular Ca2+ to regulate membrane potential and play an important role in the control of myogenic tone in small arteries. 3) Inward rectifier K+ (KIR) channels regulate membrane potential in smooth muscle cells from several types of resistance arteries and may be responsible for external K(+)-induced dilations. 4) ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels respond to changes in cellular metabolism and are targets of a variety of vasodilating stimuli. The main conclusions of this review are: 1) regulation of arterial smooth muscle membrane potential through activation or inhibition of K+ channel activity provides an important mechanism to dilate or constrict arteries; 2) KV, KCa, KIR, and KATP channels serve unique functions in the regulation of arterial smooth muscle membrane potential; and 3) K+ channels integrate a variety of vasoactive signals to dilate or constrict arteries through regulation of the membrane potential in arterial smooth muscle.

https://www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/ajpcell.1995.268.4.C799

Physiological roles and properties of potassium channels in arterial smooth muscle

This review provides a selective history of how studies of mitochondrial cation transport (K+, Na+, Ca2+) developed in relation to the major themes of research in bioenergetics. It then covers in some detail specific transport pathways for these cations, and it introduces and discusses open problems about their nature and physiological function, particularly in relation to volume regulation and Ca2+homeostasis. The review should provide the basic elements needed to understand both earlier mitochondrial literature and current problems associated with mitochondrial transport of cations and hopefully will foster new interest in the molecular definition of mitochondrial cation channels and exchangers as well as their roles in cell physiology.

http://agrino.org/skalifourta/Mitochondrial%20Transport%20of%20Cations-%20Channels,%20Exchangers,%20and%20Permeability%20Transition.pdf

Mitochondrial Transport of Cations: Channels, Exchangers, and Permeability Transition

Recent studies have indicated that arachidonic acid is primarily metabolized by cytochromeP-450 (CYP) enzymes in the brain, lung, kidney, and peripheral vasculature to 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic ac...

P-450 Metabolites of Arachidonic Acid in the Control of Cardiovascular Function

https://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/pdf/S0165-6147(02)02050-3.pdf

EDHF: bringing the concepts together.

A potassium (K) channel that was inhibited by physiological (f1M) concen­ trations of intracellular ATP ([ATP]i) and that opened as [ATP]i decreased was first described in the heart ( l). Subsequently, similar K -channels all with unitary conductances in the range of 40-80 pS (measured under symmetrical high K+ conditions) were also found to exist in insulin-secreting cells and in skeletal muscle (2_5).1 Such channels constitute what are classically described as ATP-sensitive K-channels and were termed Type 1 by Ashcroft & Ashcroft (6). In this review they are designated KATP and the current flowing through them is defined as IK(ATP) . Type 1 KATP channels are essentially calciumand voltage-independent, K+ -selective, and are half-maximally inhibited by [ATP]i in the range 10-100 fJ.M. They exhibit inward rectification and a key pharmacological feature is their inhibition by agents like tolbutamide and glyburide . Other ATP-sensitive K-channels exist and these were designated Types 2, 3, 4, and 5 (6). Such channels vary not only in their sensitivity to calcium and to the inhibitory effects of [ATP]i, but also in their selectivity for potassium and their susceptibility to pharmacological modulation.

The Pharmacology of ATP-Sensitive Potassium Channels

The term endothelium-derived hyperpolarising factor (EDHF) was introduced in 1987 to describe the hypothetical factor responsible for myocyte hyperpolarisations not associated with nitric oxide (EDRF) or prostacyclin. Two broad categories of EDHF response exist. The classical EDHF pathway is blocked by apamin plus TRAM-34 but not by apamin plus iberiotoxin and is associated with endothelial cell hyperpolarisation. This follows an increase in intracellular [Ca(2+)] and the opening of endothelial SK(Ca) and IK(Ca) channels preferentially located in caveolae and in endothelial cell projections through the internal elastic lamina, respectively. In some vessels, endothelial hyperpolarisations are transmitted to myocytes through myoendothelial gap junctions without involving any EDHF. In others, the K(+) that effluxes through SK(Ca) activates myocytic and endothelial Ba(2+)-sensitive K(IR) channels leading to myocyte hyperpolarisation. K(+) effluxing through IK(Ca) activates ouabain-sensitive Na(+)/K(+)-ATPases generating further myocyte hyperpolarisation. For the classical pathway, the hyperpolarising "factor" involved is the K(+) that effluxes through endothelial K(Ca) channels. During vessel contraction, K(+) efflux through activated myocyte BK(Ca) channels generates intravascular K(+) clouds. These compromise activation of Na(+)/K(+)-ATPases and K(IR) channels by endothelium-derived K(+) and increase the importance of gap junctional electrical coupling in myocyte hyperpolarisations. The second category of EDHF pathway does not require endothelial hyperpolarisation. It involves the endothelial release of factors that include NO, HNO, H(2)O(2) and vasoactive peptides as well as prostacyclin and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids. These hyperpolarise myocytes by opening various populations of myocyte potassium channels, but predominantly BK(Ca) and/or K(ATP), which are sensitive to blockade by iberiotoxin or glibenclamide, respectively.

Endothelium-derived hyperpolarising factors and associated pathways: A synopsis

Structure-activity relationships of K+ channel openers.

This study characterizes the K+ channel(s) underlying charybdotoxin-sensitive hyperpolarization of porcine coronary artery endothelium.


Two forms of current-voltage (I/V) relationship were evident in whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of freshly-isolated endothelial cells. In both cell types, iberiotoxin (100 nM) inhibited a current active only at potentials over +50 mV. In the presence of iberiotoxin, charybdotoxin (100 nM) produced a large inhibition in 38% of cells and altered the form of the I/V relationship. In the remaining cells, charybdotoxin also inhibited a current but did not alter the form.


Single-channel, outside-out patch recordings revealed a 17.1±0.4 pS conductance. Pipette solutions containing 100, 250 and 500 nM free Ca2+ demonstrated that the open probability was increased by Ca2+. This channel was blocked by charybdotoxin but not by iberiotoxin or apamin.


Hyperpolarizations of intact endothelium elicited by substance P (100 nM; 26.1±0.7 mV) were reduced by apamin (100 nM; 17.0±1.8 mV) whereas those to 1-ethyl-2-benzimidazolinone (1-EBIO, 600 μM, 21.0±0.3 mV) were unaffected (21.7±0.8 mV). Substance P, bradykinin (100 nM) and 1-EBIO evoked charybdotoxin-sensitive, iberiotoxin-insensitive whole-cell perforated-patch currents.


A porcine homologue of the intermediate-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel (IK1) was identified in endothelial cells.


In conclusion, porcine coronary artery endothelial cells express an intermediate-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel and the IK1 gene product. This channel is opened by activation of the EDHF pathway and likely mediates the charybdotoxin-sensitive component of the EDHF response.





Keywords: Endothelium, EDHF, hyperpolarization, calcium-activated potassium channels, charybdotoxin, iberiotoxin, apamin, IK1 gene product


Introduction
The vascular endothelium controls vessel tone by releasing nitric oxide (Furchgott & Zawadzki, 1980) and prostacyclin (Moncada & Vane, 1979) as well as by a third pathway which involves hyperpolarization of the vascular smooth muscle (reviewed by Busse et al., 2002). This ‘endothelium-dependent hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF)' pathway is inhibited by a combination of the toxins apamin and charybdotoxin, but not apamin and iberiotoxin (Corriu et al., 1996; Zygmunt & Hogestatt, 1996; Petersson et al., 1997; Chataigneau et al., 1998; Edwards et al., 1998; 2000). Given the specificities of these toxins (reviewed by Garcia et al., 1991; Castle, 1999), small- and intermediate-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (SKCa and IKCa, respectively) but not large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (BKCa) are implicated in the EDHF pathway.

In the vasculature, SKCa and IKCa are expressed in endothelial cells (Sakai, 1990; Marchenko & Sage, 1996; Kohler et al., 2000; Burnham et al., 2002) but not in smooth muscle cells with the contractile phenotype while BKCa are mainly expressed in myocytes (Zygmunt et al., 1997; Neylon et al., 1999; Quignard et al., 2000). Furthermore, the combination of apamin and charybdotoxin blocks EDHF-mediated vasodilatation if selectively applied to the endothelium and inhibits the hyperpolarization of the endothelial cells produced by acetylcholine or bradykinin (Edwards et al., 1998; 2000; Doughty et al., 1999; Ohashi et al., 1999). Finally, the increase in endothelial intracellular calcium concentration, provoked by the agonist, is not inhibited by the two toxins (Ghisdal & Morel, 2001). Altogether, these experimental results suggest that the hyperpolarization of the endothelial cells is the critical initiating step in the EDHF-mediated responses (Quignard et al., 2000; Edwards et al., 2000; Busse et al., 2002) and that apamin plus charybdotoxin exert their effects at this site (Edwards et al., 1998).

In an earlier study, in porcine coronary artery endothelial cells, an apamin-sensitive K+ channel which is likely to be involved in the EDHF response was proposed to be an SKCa containing the SK3 subunit (Burnham et al., 2002). The purpose of the present study was, in the same cells, to characterize the K+ channels sensitive to charybdotoxin which are also involved in EDHF-mediated responses.

https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1038/sj.bjp.0705057

Gillian Edwards

Papers

EDHF: bringing the concepts together.

The Pharmacology of ATP-Sensitive Potassium Channels

Endothelium-derived hyperpolarising factors and associated pathways: A synopsis

Structure-activity relationships of K+ channel openers.

Characterization of a charybdotoxin-sensitive intermediate conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel in porcine coronary endothelium: relevance to EDHF.