Peripheral vascular disease new therapies

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Aug 26, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The enzyme nitric oxide synthase plays a role in peripheral vascular disease, a common disease impairing the mobility of older people, says a U.S. study.

William Sessa, professor of pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine, says peripheral vascular disease impairs the mobility of 25 percent of people over the age of 50.

Sessa used mice missing the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene and found they had impaired ability to build arteries and capillaries, which are important for providing blood flow to muscle upon exercise training. He also succeeded in using gene therapy to reverse the effects of the missing gene, which rescued limbs in danger of dying because of ischemia -- ischemia is a severe reduction of blood flow and nutrients, usually because of a blood clot or atherosclerosis.

Sessa said the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, implies that therapeutic approaches to improve blood flow and arteriogenesis in patients with peripheral vascular disease by using a single cytokine will have limited utility unless impairments in the enzyme nitric oxide function are taken into account and corrected.