Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Obesity-Induced Arterial Stiffness.

Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Obesity-Induced Arterial Stiffness. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2017 Nov 22;:ajpregu.00235.2016 Authors: Aroor AR, Jia G, Sowers JR Abstract Obesity is an emerging pandemic driven by consumption of a diet rich in high fat and high refined carbohydrates (western diet [WD]) and a sedentary life style in both children and adults. There is mounting evidence that arterial stiffness in obesity is an independent and strong predictor of adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD), cognitive functional decline and chronic kidney disease. Cardiovascular stiffness is a precursor to systolic hypertension, cardiac diastolic dysfunction, impairment of coronary and cerebral blood flow, and atherosclerosis. Moreover, premenopausal women lose the CVD protection normally afforded to them under the setting of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes, and this loss of CVD protection is inexorably linked to an increased propensity to increasing vascular stiffness. Stiffness of endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells, extracellular matrix remodeling and perivascular adipose tissue inflammation and immune cell dysfunction contribute to the development of arterial stiffness in obesity. Enhanced endothelial cortical stiffness decreases the endothelial generation of nitic oxide (NO) and increased oxidative stress promotes destruction of NO. Our research over the past five years has underscored an important role for inc...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol Source Type: research