Caffeine's Vascular Mechanisms of Action
Open Access
- 25 August 2010
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Hindawi Limited in International Journal of Vascular Medicine
- Vol. 2010, 1-10
- https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/834060
Abstract
Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulating substance in the world. It is found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate, and many medications. Caffeine is a xanthine with various effects and mechanisms of action in vascular tissue. In endothelial cells, it increases intracellular calcium stimulating the production of nitric oxide through the expression of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase enzyme. Nitric oxide is diffused to the vascular smooth muscle cell to produce vasodilation. In vascular smooth muscle cells its effect is predominantly a competitive inhibition of phosphodiesterase, producing an accumulation of cAMP and vasodilation. In addition, it blocks the adenosine receptors present in the vascular tissue to produce vasoconstriction. In this paper the main mechanisms of action of caffeine on the vascular tissue are described, in which it is shown that caffeine has some cardiovascular properties and effects which could be considered beneficial.Keywords
This publication has 79 references indexed in Scilit:
- Store‐operated calcium entry in vascular smooth muscleBritish Journal of Pharmacology, 2008
- Caffeine and the Kidney: What Evidence Right Now?Journal of Renal Nutrition, 2007
- Caffeine analogs: biomedical impactCellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 2007
- Effects of Acute Administration of Caffeine on Vascular FunctionThe American Journal of Cardiology, 2006
- Coffee Acutely Increases Sympathetic Nerve Activity and Blood Pressure Independently of Caffeine ContentCirculation, 2002
- The Effect of Chronic Coffee Drinking on Blood PressureHypertension, 1999
- The use of caffeine as a metabolic probe for human drug metabolizing enzymesGeneral Pharmacology: The Vascular System, 1996
- Calcium release in smooth muscleLife Sciences, 1988
- Coffee Consumption and the Incidence of Coronary Heart DiseaseThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1986
- Effects of Caffeine on Plasma Renin Activity, Catecholamines and Blood PressureThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1978