The present approaches to treating vascular stiffening with age are near entirely compensatory, small molecule drugs that attempt to override signaling and force certain outcomes in the behavior of tissues. This interesting commentary notes that because stiffening has two primary components, compensatory approaches of this nature can produce adverse effects in some circumstances. Stiffening is caused by (a) loss of elasticity in the extracellular matrix of blood vessel walls, and (b) failure of the smooth muscle that controls contraction and dilation to properly respond to environmental cues. Stiffening leads to the raised blood pressure of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyp…
Vascular Stiffness Has Two Components, Which Complicates Compensatory Therapeutic Approaches
The present approaches to treating vascular stiffening with age are near entirely compensatory, small molecule drugs that attempt to override signaling and force certain outcomes in the behavior of tissues. This interesting commentary notes that because stiffening has two primary components, compensatory approaches of this nature can produce adverse effects in some circumstances. Stiffening is caused by (a) loss of elasticity in the extracellular matrix of blood vessel walls, and (b) failure of the smooth muscle that controls contraction and dilation to properly respond to environmental cues. Stiffening leads to the raised blood pressure of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyp…