Title:Endothelial Lessons
Volume: 14
Issue: 2
Author(s): Paul M. Vanhoutte
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Endothelium-dependent hyperpolarization, endothelium-derived nitric oxide, endothelium-derived contracting
factors, cyclooxygenase, intact organism, serendipity, reproducibility, soluble guanylyl cyclase.
Abstract: This essay focuses on nine important lessons learned during more than thirty years of
endothelial research. They include: the danger of hiding behind a word, the confusion generated by
abbreviations, the need to define the physiological role of the response studied, the local role of endothelium-
dependent responses, the strength of pharmacological analyses, endothelial dysfunction as
consequence and cause of disease, the importance of rigorous protocols, the primacy of in vivo studies
and the importance of serendipity.
