Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Deficiency Enhanced Carotid Artery Ligation-Induced Remodeling by Promoting Vascular Inflammation

sis, vessel inflammation, remodeling, eNOS knockout mice, nitric oxide, smooth muscle cell, monocyte chemoat- tractant protein-1, vascular cell adhe- sion molecule-1, macrophage ABSTRACT Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in vascular protection. It has been reported that endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) deficiency exacerbated carotid artery ligation (CAL)-induced vascular remodeling, which, however, did not elu- cidate the role of inflammation. Over- expression of eNOS inhibited vascular inflammation and remodeling in a CAL model. However, there is no study that tested the hypothesis that eNOS defi- ciency can enhance the inflammatory 100