Endothelium in pharmacology: 30 years on

In this issue, BJP is proud to publish an Endothelium Themed Section to celebrate the life of Robert F. Furchgott, who died on May 19th 2009. It is 30 years since he discovered endothelium-derived relaxant factor and a decade since he was awarded the Nobel Prize for this work. His discovery has led to an array of new therapeutic targets. The themed section includes three reviews on the pathophysiology of the endothelium and the drug targets that this presents, four research papers and three commentaries on research.This themed section also forms the nucleus of an online Virtual Issue that collects in one place further reviews and research papers on the topic of the ‘Endothelium’ that BJP and our sister journal BJCP have published in the past year, and that should help researchers and students to find the latest work in this field.To view the entire Endothelium Themed Section and the Endothelium Virtual Issue, please visit: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121548564/issueyear?year=2009British Journal of Pharmacology (2009) 157, 491–493; doi:10.1111/j.1476-5381.2009.00366.xThis article is part of a themed section on Endothelium in Pharmacology. For a list of all articles in this section see the end of this paper, or visit: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121548564/issueyear?year=2009Thirty years ago Robert F Furchgott found that a substance was released from vascular endothelium that caused relaxation of the smooth muscle in the vascular wall (Furchgott and Zawadzki, 1980), a discovery for which, a decade ago, he was awarded the Nobel Prize (Furchgott, 1999). This remarkable finding was, from my recollection anyway, the most exciting aspect of the second Symposium on Mechanisms of Vasodilatation, held at Wilrijk, Belgium in July 1980 (Vanhoutte and Leusen, 1981) and has been, one suspects, a major part of the reason that this series is now celebrating its 10th occurrence at Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan, in June 2009 (it is planned to publish work arising from this event in Circulation Journal).Thirty years on, the endothelium continues to yield information on pathophysiological mechanisms that provides many therapeutic targets for drug discovery and new explanations for drug action. A special Endothelium Themed Section in this issue of BJP collates three new reviews on the pathophysiology of the endothelium and the drug targets that this presents (Esposito and Cuzzocrea, 2009; Grgic et al., 2009; Versari et al., 2009), four research papers (de Andrade et al., 2009; Andrews et al., 2009; McKenzie et al., 2009; Orie et al., 2009) and three commentaries on research papers that discuss the significance and draw out controversies from their new findings (Martin, 2009, commenting on Andrews et al., 2009; Tammaro, 2009, commenting on Orie et al., 2009; Miller and Wadsworth, 2009, commenting on Wenzl et al., 2009 that was published in an earlier issue).These Endothelium reviews and two others already published (Félétou, 2009; Félétou et al., 2009) follow up symposia held at the Meeting of the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies (EPHAR) in Manchester, UK, in July 2008, and show the continuing importance of this field. To reflect this and provide access to our extensive portfolio of endothelial papers, we have collated this section with other recent reviews, commentaries and original articles from BJP and from our sister journal BJCP, in a Virtual Issue on Endothelium, available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121548564/issueyear?year=2009 (see http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121548564/issueyear?year=2009)Open in a separate windowThemed Section: Endothelium in PharmacologyEndothelium in pharmacology: 30 years on: J. C. McGrathRole of nitroso radicals as drug targets in circulatory shock: E. Esposito & S. CuzzocreaEndothelial Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ channels in normal and impaired EDHF–dilator responses – relevance to cardiovascular pathologies and drug discovery: I. Grgic, B. P. Kaistha, J. Hoyer & R. KöhlerEndothelium-dependent contractions and endothelial dysfunction in human hypertension: D. Versari, E. Daghini, A. Virdis, L. Ghiadoni & S. TaddeiNitroxyl anion – the universal signalling partner of endogenously produced nitric oxide?: W. MartinA role for nitroxyl (HNO) as an endothelium-derived relaxing and hyperpolarizing factor in resistance arteries: K. L. Andrews, J. C. Irvine, M. Tare, J. Apostolopoulos, J. L. Favaloro, C. R. Triggle & B. K. Kemp-HarperVascular K_ATP channels: dephosphorylation and deactivation: P. TammaroCa²⁺/calcineurin regulation of cloned vascular K_ATP channels: crosstalk with the protein kinase A pathway: N. N. Orie, A. M. Thomas, B. A. Perrino, A. Tinker & L. H. ClappUnderstanding organic nitrates – a vein hope?: M. R. Miller & R. M. WadsworthIncreased endothelin-1 reactivity and endothelial dysfunction in carotid arteries from rats with hyperhomocysteinemia: C. R. de Andrade, P. F. Leite, A. C. Montezano, D. A. Casolari, A. Yogi, R. C. Tostes, R. Haddad, M. N. Eberlin, F. R. M. Laurindo, H. P. de Souza, F. M. A. Corrêa & A. M. de OliveiraMechanisms of U46619-induced contraction of rat pulmonary arteries in the presence and absence of the endothelium: C. McKenzie, A. MacDonald & A. M. ShawThis issue is available online at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121548564/issueyear?year=2009