Yin-Bin Zhang

Keywords: berberine; relaxation; vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs); large-conductance calcium-activated K+ channel (BKCa) Introduction Vascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients (Sena et al. 2013, Tousoulis et al. 2013). Although many risk factors could accelerate the progression of diabetic vascular disease, hyperglycemia and hypertension are found to coexist frequently and considered to be the two leading risk factors (Cheung & Li 2012).

Hyperglycemia and hypertension are considered to be the two leading risk factors for vascular disease in diabetic patients. However, few pharmacologic agents could provide a combinational therapy for controlling hyperglycemia and hypertension at the same time in diabetes. The objectives of this study are to investigate whether berberine treatment could directly reduce blood pressure and identify the molecular mechanism underlying the vascular protection of berberine in diabetic rats.

Hyperglycemia and hypertension are considered to be the two leading risk factors for vascular disease in diabetic patients. However, few pharmacologic agents could provide a combinational therapy for controlling hyperglycemia and hypertension at the same time in diabetes. We aimed to investigate whether berberine treatment could directly reduce blood pressure in diabetes and what is the molecular mechanism underlying the vascular protection of berberine in diabetic rats.