Abstract: Nowadays, the incidence of hypertension, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which threaten human health, increases year by year. Previous studies showed that oxidative damage in endothelial cells was usually a common response at the early stage of these diseases. Moreover, some therapeutic strategies such as physical therapy and cardiac surgery may leave some problems affecting endothelial function. In this context, the mechanism of oxidative damage in endothelial cells is of growing interest to researchers, and many efforts have been made to seek the most suitable effectors like active components derived from foods to inhibit oxidative damage in endothelial cells, thereby preventing or reducing the occurrence of related diseases. The mechanisms of action of several common inducers such as hydrogen peroxide, oxidized low-density lipoprotein, high glucose concentration and radiation in causing oxidative damage in endothelial cells are described in this review, which will provide valuable information to select a suitable inducer for induction of oxidative damage in endothelial cells and therefore to facilitate the selection of effectors and the study of the underlying mechanism.

Key words: endothelial cells, oxidative damage, inducer