Vascular Endothelial-Specific Dimethylarginine Dimethylaminohydrolase-1–Deficient Mice Reveal That Vascular Endothelium Plays an Important Role in Removing Asymmetric Dimethylarginine

Abstract

Our study demonstrates that DDAH1 is highly expressed in vascular endothelium and that endothelial DDAH1 plays an important role in regulating blood pressure. In the context that asymmetric methylarginines are broadly produced by many type of cells, the strong DDAH1 expression in vascular endothelium demonstrates for the first time that vascular endothelium can be an important site to actively dispose of toxic biochemical molecules produced by other types of cells.