Nitric oxide, caveolae, and vascular pathology.

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is an enzyme that plays a critical role in normal cardiovascular function. Caveolae are structures within the surface membrane of cells in which many signaling and second messenger pathways, including nitric oxide, are regulated. Many interventions in cardiovascular disease act, in part, either by changing factors that directly influence eNOS, or by changing a complex set of proteins that act indirectly on caveolae, to alter eNOS activity. In this review, we will focus on the regulation of eNOS activity by circulating factors which are altered in cardiovascular disease and the effects of pharmacological interventions that act partially through effects on eNOS.