Figure 3

Mechanisms leading to vascular disruption in diabetes. High glucose causes various biochemical and molecular changes in the vascular ECs, resulting in functional and structural alterations of the target organ vascular bed. Impaired vasoregulation and loss of vessel integrity leads to reduced blood flow and ischemia. In response, the target organ exhibits neovascularization (diabetic retinopathy/nephropathy) or fibrosis (diabetic cardiomyopathy/neuropathy) [AGE=advanced glycation end product; BM=basement membrane; EC=endothelial cell; ECM=extracellular matrix; EDV=endothelial-dependent vasodilation; ET-1=endothelin-1; MAPK=mitogen-activated protein kinase; PKB=protein kinase B; PKC=protein kinase C].