Endothelial Research Centre | University of Tartu
RESEARCH & METHODS
Main Research Goals
We aim to
- describe structural and functional alterations of arteries in a wide range of clinical conditions
- detect and affect interactions between arterial stiffness and hemodynamics
- determine associations between arterial stiffness, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation and oxidative stress
- determine low-molecular-weight metabolites involved in the pathogenesis of arterial stiffness, endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases using metabolomics approach
- identify diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of vascular damage and cardiovascular disease
- test interventions intended to prevent vascular dysfunction and end-organ damage (e.g. antihypertensive drugs, remote ischemic preconditioning) in different clinical settings
Methods
Arterial stiffness and central hemodynamics
- Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) (Sphygmocor XCEL®; AtCor Medical, Australia)
- Pulse wave analysis (PWA) and central blood pressure (Sphygmocor XCEL®; AtCor Medical, Australia), (Mobil-O-Graph®; I.E.M., Germany)
- Small and large artery elasticity (HDI/PulseWave CR-2000 Research CardioVascular Profiling System; Hypertension Diagnostics Inc., USA)
Endothelial dysfunction, local arterial stiffness, carotid intima-media thickness
- Vascular ultrasonography (Philips CX-50; Philips Medical Systems Inc., USA; M-Turbo®, Sonosite, USA)
- Blood flow velocities and flow volumes of arteries and veins
- Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) (FMD Studio, Cardiovascular Suite 3.4, Quipu, Italy)
- Carotid artery stiffness (Carotid Studio, Cardiovascular Suite 3.4, Quipu, Italy)
- Carotid intima-media thickness (Carotid Studio, Cardiovascular Suite 3.4, Quipu, Italy)
Left ventricular hypertrophy, ankle-brachial index, volume plethysmography, claudication distance
- Echocardiography (Philips CX-50; Philips Medical Systems Inc., USA)
- Electrocardiography (MAC1200 ST; GE Healthcare, USA)
- Air plethysmography (Dopplex ABility® ABI System, Huntleigh Healthcare; UK)
- Doppler ultrasound (The Portable ABI Kit; D.E. Hokanson, Inc., USA)
- Treadmill (Vision Fitness T60; Johnson Health Tech. Co., Ltd., Taiwan)
Cardiac autonomic function
- Heart rate variability analysis (Kubios HRV Premium 3.1, Finland)
Biomarkers
- Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
- Semi-automated Biochip Array Technology analyzer (The Evidence Investigator™; Randox Laboratories, UK)
Targeted and untargeted metabolomics (in cooperation with the Mass-Spectrometry Lab of the Department of Biochemistry)
- Tandem mass-spectrometry (MS/MS)
- Flow injection analysis-tandem mass spectrometry (FIA-MS/MS) + targeted quantitative metabolomics kits (AbsoluteIDQ® p180 Kit; BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG, Austria)
Animal models
- In-vivo aortic stiffness and hemodynamic measurements in rats
- Histological analysis of aortic wall structure
Other methods/interventions
- Remote ischemic preconditioning
- Computer-tomography-based aortic calcification scoring system
- Coronary angiographic (SYNTAX, Gensini) and digital subtraction analysis-based scoring systems
Statistical analysis in collaboration with professional statisticians
- R (R Development Core Team, Austria)
- Stata (Version 15.0; Stata Corporation., USA)
- IBM SPSS Statistics (SPSS, USA)
