Copyright © 2006, European Society of Cardiology
Sphingosine-1-phosphate in the circulatory system: Cause and therapeutic target for vascular dysfunction?
University of Rostock, Institute of Physiology, PSF 100888, D-18055 Rostock, Germany
* Tel.: +49 381 4948016; fax: +49 381 4948002. Email address: rudolf.schubert@medizin.uni-rostock.de
Received 3 February 2006; accepted 9 February 2006
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See articles by Scherer et al. [6] (pages 79–87) and Ochi et al. [12] (pages 88–96) in this issue.
Small arteries play an important role for blood pressure regulation and blood flow distribution to different organs. The diameter of these vessels is under the control of a number of factors such as blood pressure, flow, conducted signals from neighboring vessel segments, diverse metabolites produced from surrounding tissues, transmitters liberated from nerve endings, substances released from the endothelium, and a variety of vasoactive compounds washed ashore by the blood stream. Among these factors, increasing attention is now being given to bioactive sphingolipid metabolites, especially sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P).
A number of comprehensive reviews have summarized the current knowledge about S1P (for example, [1–4]). Briefly, S1P plays an