title: Mechanisms regulating endothelial permeability.
abstract: The endothelial monolayer partitioning underlying tissue from blood components in the vessel wall maintains tissue fluid balance and host defense through dynamically opening intercellular junctions. Edemagenic agonists disrupt endothelial barrier function by signaling the opening of the intercellular junctions leading to the formation of protein-rich edema in the interstitial tissue, a hallmark of tissue inflammation that, if left untreated, causes fatal diseases, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. In this review, we discuss how intercellular junctions are maintained under normal conditions and after stimulation of endothelium with edemagenic agonists. We have focused on reviewing the new concepts dealing with the alteration of adherens junctions after inflammatory stimulus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Center for Lung and Vascular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Sukriti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sukriti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Center for Lung and Vascular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tauseef
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Center for Lung and Vascular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yazbeck
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Center for Lung and Vascular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Dolly
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mehta
keywords: adherens junctions; permeability; signaling mechanisms; vascular endothelium