Role of Jagged1 in Arterial Lesions After Vascular Injury

Objective-Impaired regeneration of endothelial cells (EC) and overactivity of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are hallmarks of the arterial lesions associated with aging. The occurrence of 2 opposing cellular processes in the same arterial milieu makes pharmaceutical treatment difficult to develop. We previously reported that endothelial expression of a Notch ligand (Jagged1) was reduced in aged animals and that growth of the neointima was enhanced in these animals.