Endothelial cells
In human coronary endothelial cells, aldosterone specifically enhanced intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 and promoted leukocyte adhesion via MR (Caprio et al., 2008). In addition to inflammation, aldosterone induced superoxide generation through NADPH oxidase activation in an MR-dependent manner in endothelial cells (Iwashima et al., 2008). Moreover, aldosterone-induced anti-angiogenic effects in endothelial cells were dependent on MR activation (Lother et al., 2018b). Aldosterone also increased endothelial cell volume through an MR-dependent mechanism (Oberleithner et al., 2003, 2006), resulting in increased stiffness of endothelial cells, MR-dependent cell growth (Hillebrand et al., 2007), and reduced nitric oxide (NO) release (Oberleithner et al., 2007). Altogether, these results show that aldosterone/MR pathway exerts a direct effect on endothelial cells enhancing inflammation, oxidative stress, anti-angiogenesis and influencing their mechanical and functional properties.