Estrogen and Mechanisms of Vascular Protection

Overview

Journal Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol

Date 2009 Feb 18

PMID 19221203

Citations 129

Authors

Dongqi Xing

Susan Nozell

Yiu-Fai Chen

Fadi Hage

Suzanne Oparil

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Estrogen has antiinflammatory and vasoprotective effects when administered to young women or experimental animals that appear to be converted to proinflammatory and vasotoxic effects in older subjects, particularly those that have been hormone free for long periods. Clinical studies have raised many important questions about the vascular effects of estrogen that cannot easily be answered in human subjects. Here we review cellular/molecular mechanisms by which estrogen modulates injury-induced inflammation, growth factor expression, and oxidative stress in arteries and isolated vascular smooth muscle cells, with emphasis on the role of estrogen receptors and the nuclear factor-kappaB (NFkappaB) signaling pathway, as well as evidence that these protective mechanisms are lost in aging subjects.

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