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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Assessing Endothelial Vasodilator Function with the Endo-PAT 2000
Published on: October 15, 2010
Sex steroids and the endothelium
H W Schnaper1, J McGuire, C Runyan
1Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Medical School, and the Children's Memorial Institute for Education and Research, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA. schnaper@nwu.edu
Abstract:
Gonadal steroids clearly influence the course of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in women. This observation has suggested that these hormones have beneficial effects on the physiology of the vascular wall. Increased arterial vascular caliber after estrogen treatment, decreased lipid levels in subjects receiving hormone replacement therapy, and the markedly decreased extent of atherosclerotic plaque formation in young women as compared with young men support a cardioprotective effect of ovarian steroids. Generally, it appears that the effects of 17beta-estradiol are particularly beneficial, and the mechanism of action is targeted largely to the endothelial cell. This review describes the evidence for positive effects of estrogens on endothelial cell biology and considers potential mechanisms for estrogen actions on endothelial cell signal transduction.
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