title: Endothelial function is impaired in conduit arteries of pannexin1 knockout mice.
abstract: Pannexin1 is ubiquitously expressed in vertebrate tissues, but the role it plays in vascular tone regulation remains unclear. We found that Pannexin1 expression level is much higher in the endothelium relative to smooth muscle of saphenous artery. The ability of endothelium-intact arteries for dilation was significantly impaired whereas contractile responses were considerably increased in mice with genetic ablation of Pannexin1. No such increased contractile responses were detected in the endothelium-denuded arteries. Combined, our findings suggest a new function of Pannexin1 as an important player in normal endothelium-dependent regulation of arterial tone, where it facilitates vessel dilation and attenuates constriction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, M,V, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1-12, 119234 Moscow, Russia. Dina.Gaynullina@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaynullina
authors.forename: Olga S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Tarasova
authors.forename: Oxana O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Kiryukhina
authors.forename: Valery I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Shestopalov
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Panchin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001158:Arteries / Q000502:physiology*; D017630:Connexins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017630:Connexins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C503631:Panx1 protein, mouse