Vascular stress response and endothelial vasoactive factors for vascular remodelling

In response to several vascular stresses caused by hyperglycaemia, hypertension or hyperlipidemia, endothelial cells (EC) sense these stresses as oxidative stress to secrete several autocrine/paracrine factors, including growth factors/cytokines and vasoactive peptides to regulate vascular tone and remodelling. Vascular stresses induce co-ordinate gene regulation of endothelial vasoactive substances and their related enzymes to cause vasorelaxation and vascular growth inhibition. We speculate that prolonged and excessive vascular stresses impair endothelial function, which results in the imbalance of endothelial production of vasoactive substances and leads to the formation of proliferative vascular lesions.