Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
The endothelium can elicit relaxations and contractions of the underlying smooth muscle cells. It does so by releasing vasodilator (EDRF) and vasoconstrictor (EDCF) mediators. Among the diffusible endothelial factors nitric oxide (NO) plays a key role, particularly in large blood vessels. This chapter briefly reviews the interactions between NO and the other vasomotor signals released by the endothelial cells.