Endocrine Abstracts

The vasoactive peptide adrenomedullin (ADM) has effects on several vascular beds including the cerebral circulation. The peptide has a positive impact on blood-brain-barrier (BBB) integrity, and transcription of ADM mRNA is enhanced by pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1 and TNF-alpha in neuronal cell types. The current study has investigated whether ADM may be a marker for disease progression, in vivo in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of the human disease...

Loss of normal blood-brain barrier (BBB) function is an integral feature of the neuroinflammatory process in the human demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis (MS). Our previous studies using EAE as the experimental model of MS have demonstrated that restoration of BBB function is associated with an improved clinical status. The vasoactive peptide ADM works in an autocrine manner on endothelial cells of the vasculature and is produced at particularly high levels within the ne...