{"doi":"10.3389/fphys.2023.1278632","title":"Editorial: Rising stars in vascular physiology: 2022","abstract":"inhibit proliferation. Interestingly, using cytosolic and nuclear cell fractions and singular or combined SMAD3/FOXO3 OE, results suggest a reciprocal relationship exists between SMAD3 and FOXO3 in their abilities to control VSM growth; SMAD3 reverses the cytostatic effects of FOXO3 and FOXO3 normalizes SMAD3-induced growth. Observations also provided evidence that SMAD3/FOXO3 operate via involvement of the E3 ubiquitin ligase MuRF-1 in VSM cell growth control.Complementing these studies on phenotypically altered VSM cell migration and proliferation, modified immune responses including enhanced localized inflammation are also central to CVD pathology. Grunz et al. used RNA sequencing and an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) mouse model to study neuro-immune signaling between adventitial macrophages and perivascular nerves of mesenteric arteries. They found that IBD increased the abundance of adventitial leukocytes and macrophages as well as macrophage-associated genes believed to contribute to impaired vessel dilation; they also observed diminished blood flow via action on sensory nerves. Thus, Grunz et al provide the first evidence that expansion of the adventitial macrophage population and macrophage-associated gene pool adversely affect perivascular nerve function and contribute to reduced vascular blood flow in IBD. Another study by Lv et al. used data mining in a bioinformatics approach to identify primarily macrophage-associated, immunerelated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in human calcific aortic valve diseased (CAVD) tissues. Algorithmic associations identified key immune-related genes including predominantly SCG2, a chromogranin-secretogranin family member of neuroendocrine secretory proteins, and CCL19, a specific ligand for chemokine receptor CCR7, as candidate biomarkers for CAVD.Lastly, despite the established role of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) in cardiovascular health benefits, there is a lack of clarity regarding key mechanisms in mediating these effects. Bercea et al. used both pharmacological inhibitors and genetic mouse model deficient in VSM KATP channels to verify whether n-3 PUFA-mediated vasodilation involves opening of these channels. While results from pharmacologic channel blockade suggested that n-3 PUFA-mediated vessel dilation involved KATP, results from knockout animals demonstrated that they were not involved. Thus, the study suggests vascular studies with commonly used pharmacological blockers of KATP channels need to be interpreted with caution.Altogether, these timely findings from intriguing and innovative research studies led by young investigators have added to our body of knowledge regarding both vascular physiology and disease processes. As 'Rising Stars' in the field, these future leaders, nominated by their peers, have demonstrated ingenuity and insight in their respective studies and should serve as examples for other emerging scientists as well as established investigators in the field of vascular physiology.DAT wrote the draft Editorial; DAT and AJM revised it and approved its final version.","journal":"Frontiers in Physiology","year":2023,"id":411233,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.964,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":953051,"name":"Alister J. McNeish","orcid":"0000-0002-3466-8442","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":361929,"name":"David A. Tulis","orcid":"0000-0003-3490-2283","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:21:38.940853Z","pmid":"37745235","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}