**Preface XIII**


Chapter 7 **Endothelial Cell von Willebrand Factor Secretion in Health and Cardiovascular Disease 147** Luiza Rusu and Richard D. Minshall

Chapter 17 **The Markers of Endothelial Activation 391**

Stupin and Kristina Selthofer-Relatic

Ines Drenjancevic, Ivana Jukic, Ana Stupin, Anita Cosic, Marko

Contents **VII**


#### Chapter 17 **The Markers of Endothelial Activation 391** Ines Drenjancevic, Ivana Jukic, Ana Stupin, Anita Cosic, Marko Stupin and Kristina Selthofer-Relatic

Chapter 7 **Endothelial Cell von Willebrand Factor Secretion in Health and**

Chapter 8 **Hyperglycemia-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction 179**

Peteiro and José Ramón González-Juanatey

Chapter 10 **Endothelial Dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes: Targeting**

Chapter 9 **Impact of Advanced Glycation End Products on Endothelial**

**Function and Their Potential Link to Atherosclerosis 211** Ezequiel Alvarez, Beatriz Paradela-Dobarro, Mercedes González-

Cristina M. Sena, Fernanda Carrilho and Raquel M. Seiça

Vera Nevzorova, Tatiana Brodskaya and Natalia Zakharchuk

Chapter 11 **Angiogenesis in Adipose Tissue: How can Moderate Caloric Restriction Affects Obesity-Related Endothelial**

**Cardiovascular Disease 147** Luiza Rusu and Richard D. Minshall

Domokos Gero

**VI** Contents

**Inflammation 231**

**Dysfunction? 251** Katarzyna Korybalska

**Dysfunction 307**

**Dysfunction 327**

**Exposure 365**

Chapter 12 **Pulmonary Vascular Endothelial Cells 287**

Joana Sousa and Carmen Diniz

Joyce N. Gonzales and Alexander D. Verin

Chapter 14 **Vascular Sympathetic Neurotransmission and Endothelial**

Pietro Mazzuca, Arnaldo Caruso and Francesca Caccuri

Bjorn Baselet, Raghda Ramadan, Abderrafi Mohammed Benotmane, Pierre Sonveaux, Sarah Baatout and An Aerts

Chapter 15 **Endothelial Cell Dysfunction in HIV-1 Infection 347**

Chapter 16 **Selected Endothelial Responses after Ionizing Radiation**

Chapter 13 **Smoking, Respiratory Diseases and Endothelial**

Preface

The endothelium, the inner vascular layer, is far from being solely a mechanical barrier be‐ cause it enables communication between blood and tissues. In many ways, including its metabolic, secretory, permeability, and vascular tone regulatory roles, it has been implicated as a highly active organ, importantly contributing to cardiovascular homeostasis. Because tissues depend on proper vascularization, the endothelium could indeed be considered as one of the main determinants of tissue perfusion. It actually exhibits immense heterogeneity,

An immense expansion of knowledge on endothelial structure and function was achieved by the discovery of electron microscopy combined with various labeling techniques. Never‐ theless, there are many obscurities regarding *in vivo* studies, even more so in humans. Re‐ spectively, it is not always easy to extrapolate the observations obtained in animal or cell

Exposed to instantanously changing environments and influences, the endothelium is sus‐ ceptible to noxious stimuli, which may lead to endothelial dysfunction. The latter is immi‐ nently connected also to normal aging and has nowadays been recognized as the leading cause of atherosclerosis development predisposing to cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, an insight into molecular mechanisms of endothelial activity is crucial from a clinical point of view because early detection of endothelial dysfunction might postpone the development of disease. Currently, clinical evaluation of endothelial dysfunction remains to be accomplish‐ ed, appropriate clinical methods to timely and accurately detect endothelial dysfunction are lacking, and only more or less robust estimations are available. It is therefore essential to pursue investigations into endothelial function and dysfunction. Accordingly, this book presents recent findings on certain aspects of endothelial (dys)function and the mechanisms involved, as well as potential therapeutic targets involving endothelium and surrogate

The book consists of 17 chapters written by reputed authors; because it is impossible to cover all aspects of endothelial function, the chapters present only selected topics. It starts with an introduction by the editor briefly presenting basic characteristics of endothelial structure and function relevant for subsequent chapters. The chapter written by Claudio Aguayo and coau‐ thors follows, addressing genetic aspects with a focus on the Hox gene family directing endo‐ thelial differentiation and angiogenesis. The process of endothelial cell senescence as one of the main causes of the development of endothelial dysfunction is presented by Carracedo, while the chapter written by Wang and coauthors extensively exposes the regulation and function of the longevity regulator sirtuin, proposing also its potential role as an antiaging regulator. Subsequent chapters comprehensively present endothelial elements involved in

which could partly expain its many different functions and roles.

culture studies to humans, leaving a number of unanswered questions.

markers for estimation of endothelial (dys)function.
