The role of the vascular endothelium in inflammatory syndromes, atherogenesis, and the propagation of disease.

The vascular endothelium is intimately involved in a wide variety of normal physiological processes, including coagulation/anticoagulation, the maintenance of vascular tone, and pathological processes, including reperfusion injury, inflammatory syndromes, and tumor cell metastasis. This review discusses the importance of increased adhesive molecule expression on the endothelial surface in promoting circulating inflammatory cell-endothelial adherence in inflammatory conditions, as well as the role of the vascular endothelium in reperfusion injury, altered microvascular permeability states, and atherogenesis.