[The vascular endothelium in inflammatory processes in vivo and in vitro]

Endothelial injury occurs in atherosclerosis, infectious, rheumatic and vasculitic processes, leading to activation of transcription factors and endothelial expression of various cytokines and adhesion molecules. Endothelial cell cultures represent a valuable tool in research activities, with emphasis on the principal characteristics of angiogenesis, inflammatory response, transduction signals and endothelial functionality. In the laboratory of tissue cultures we prepared primary endothelial cultures by their isolation from the umbilical vein. This model system has been used to investigate the endothelial activation in vitro, adhesion alterations of immunocompetent cells to endothelium, adhesion molecule expression in the disease course monitoring and anti-inflammatory treatment. (Tab. 1, Fig. 5, Ref. 45.)