Fig. 9

A scheme of the putative signaling pathway through which hyperosmotic stress contributes to some of the vascular events in diabetes, based on findings from the present study. In the plasma membrane, hyperglycemia activates “osmosensing” structures, such as aquaporin (AQP)-1, which can sense osmolarity changes; and an “osmosignaling” pathway, involving the transcription factor tonicity enhancer binding protein (Ton/EBP), which can transmit the signal towards effector regulatory sites in the nuclei, able to further promote the expression of proinflammatory genes such as adhesion molecules and cycloxygenase (COX)-2