Vascular Endothelium - G Born

Recent discoveries have established the endothelium as a very large and highly active endocrine organ which, through its strategic situation between the blood and the rest of the body, is responsible for a host of vital physiological functions. This in turn is leading to rapid advances in understanding the pathogenesis of some of the most serious and most common diseases, including hypertension, atherosclerosis and inflammation.;For the endothelium, as for all other tissues, morphological techniques, however ingeniously applied, can provide no more than successive snapshots of continuous dynamic processes. It is only in more recent years that these techniques have been supplemented by cell culture in vitro and by ingenious uses of endothelial mediators in vivo. Nevertheless, many of the most important questions about endothelial functions remain to be answered. It is the purpose of this book to indicate directions along which answers may be found.