Metabolic responses induced by thrombin in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Metabolic responses induced by thrombin in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were investigated by using the cytosensor technique. Thrombin increased the extracellular acidification rate of endothelial cells, measured as an index of metabolic activity with a cytosensor microphysiometer, in a concentration-dependent fashion with an EC(50) of 1.27+/-0.59 IU/ml, which was abolished by the MAP kinase inhibitor PD98059. When intracellular Ca(2+) was chelated or PKC was inactivated, PD98059 failed to abolish the thrombin-induced acidification rate response in HUVECs. In addition, the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein, PKC inhibitor calphostin C, and Na(+)/H(+)exchanger antagonist MIA also partly inhibited thrombin-induced acidification rate responses. It is suggested that thrombin stimulated rapid metabolic responses via MAP kinase in HUVECs, which are calcium- and PKC-dependent.     

A novel array-based assay of in situ tissue transglutaminase activity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Transglutaminases (TGs), a family of calcium-dependent transamidating enzymes, are involved in functions such as apoptosis and inflammation and play a role in autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we describe a novel array-based approach to rapidly determine in situ TG activity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and J82 human bladder carcinoma cells. Amine arrays were fabricated by immobilizing 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane on glass slides. The assay was specific and highly reproducible. The average coefficient of variation betweens spots was 2.6% (n = 3 arrays), and the average correlation coefficients between arrays and between arrays/reactions were 0.998 and 0.976, respectively (n = 3 arrays). The assay was successfully applied to detect changes in TG activity induced by maitotoxin and to analyze inhibition of the TG activation with cystamine and monodansyl cadaverine. In addition, the assay demonstrated that intracellular reactive oxygen species regulate the maitotoxin-induced activation of TG. Thus, the array-based in situ TG activity assay constitutes a rapid and high-throughput approach to investigating the roles of TGs in cell signaling.     

Effects of endomorphins on human umbilical vein endothelial cells under high glucose

The endomorphin-1 (EM1) and endomorphin-2 (EM2) are endogenous opioid peptides, which modulate extensive bioactivities such as pain, cardiovascular responses, immunological responses and so on. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of EM1/EM2 on the primary cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) damaged by high glucose. PI AnnexinV-FITC detection was performed to evaluate the apoptosis rate. Levels of nitric oxide (NO) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity were measured by the Griess reaction and the conversion of 3H-arginine to 3H-citrulline, respectively. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) was evaluated by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cell proliferation was determined by the MTT viability assay. mRNA expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and ET-1 were measured by real-time PCR. Our data showed that EM1/EM2 inhibited cell apoptosis. The high glucose induced increase in expression of NO, NOS and ET-1 were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with EM1/EM2 in a dose dependent manner. In addition, EM1/EM2 suppressed the mRNA eNOS and mRNA ET-1 expression in HUVECs under high glucose conditions. Naloxone, the nonselective opioid receptor antagonist, did not influence the mRNA eNOS expression when it was administrated on its own; but it could significantly antagonize the effects induced by EM1/EM2. Furthermore, in all assay systems, EM1 was more potent than EM2. The results suggest that EM1/EM2 have a beneficial effect in protecting against the endothelial dysfunction by high glucose in vitro, and these effects were mediated by the opioid receptors in HUVECs.     

Combination stem cell therapy using dental pulp stem cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells for critical hindlimb ischemia

Narrowing of arteries supplying blood to the limbs provokes critical hindlimb ischemia (CLI). Although CLI results in irreversible sequelae, such as amputation, few therapeutic options induce the formation of new functional blood vessels. Based on the proangiogenic potentials of stem cells, in this study, it was examined whether a combination of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) could result in enhanced therapeutic effects of stem cells for CLI compared with those of DPSCs or HUVECs alone. The DPSCs+ HUVECs combination therapy resulted in significantly higher blood flow and lower ischemia damage than DPSCs or HUVECs alone. The improved therapeutic effects in the DPSCs+ HUVECs group were accompanied by a significantly higher number of microvessels in the ischemic tissue than in the other groups. In vitro proliferation and tube formation assay showed that VEGF in the conditioned media of DPSCs induced proliferation and vessel-like tube formation of HUVECs. Altogether, our results demonstrated that the combination of DPSCs and HUVECs had significantly better therapeutic effects on CLI via VEGF-mediated crosstalk. This combinational strategy could be used to develop novel clinical protocols for CLI proangiogenic regenerative treatments.     

Listeria monocytogenes-infected human umbilical vein endothelial cells: internalin-independent invasion, intracellular growth, movement, and host cell responses

The interaction of Listeria monocytogenes with human umbilical vein endothelial cells was studied. We show that L. monocytogenes invades human umbilical vein endothelial cells independently of internalin A, internalin B, internalin C, and ActA. L. monocytogenes replicates efficiently inside the cells and moves intracellularly by the induction of actin polymerization. We further show that L. monocytogenes-infection of human umbilical vein endothelial cells induces interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 expression during the first 6 h of infection. The expression of MCP-1 and the adhesion molecules VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 was not altered under the experimental conditions used here.     

Long-term serial cultivation and growth requirements for human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Summary Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUV-EC) grew rapidly in vitro in medium supplemented with epidermal growth factor, fetal bovine serum (FBS) and human diploid fibroblast-conditioned medium. The effect of FBS could be replaced partially by bovine serum albumin, cholesterol, and vitamin E, and completely by further addition of serum dialysate or refeeding every other day. Among these components, fibroblast-conditioned medium is essential for HUV-EC growth. The HUV-EC were cultured serially for over 50 population doublings in the 10% FBS containing fibroblast-conditioned medium and for over 40 population doublings in the serum-free medium. Mitogenic factor(s) present in the medium conditioned by fibroblasts may be related to endothelial cell growth factor and play an important role angiogenesis and regeneration of vascular endothelium in vitro.     

Angiotensin II induces focal adhesion kinase/paxillin phosphorylation and cell migration in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

In the present study, we demonstrated that Ang II provokes a transitory enhancement of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and paxillin phosphorylation in human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVEC). Moreover, Ang II induces a time- and dose-dependent augmentation in cell migration, but does not affect HUVEC proliferation. The effect of Ang II on FAK and paxillin phosphorylation was markedly attenuated in cells pretreated with wortmannin and LY294002, indicating that phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) plays an important role in regulating FAK activation. Similar results were observed when HUVEC were pretreated with genistein, a non-selective tyrosine kinases inhibitor, or with the specific inhibitor PP2 for Src family kinases, demonstrating the involvement of protein tyrosine kinases, and particularly Src family of tyrosine kinases, in the downstream signalling pathway of Ang II receptors. Furthermore, FAK and paxillin phosphorylation was markedly blocked after treatment of HUVEC with AG1478, a selective inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation. Pretreatment of cells with inhibitors of PI3K, Src family tyrosine kinases, and EGFR also decreased HUVEC migration. In conclusion, these results suggest that Ang II mediates an increase in FAK and paxillin phosphorylation and induces HUVEC migration through signal transduction pathways dependent on PI3K and Src tyrosine kinase activation and EGFR transactivation.     

Serum starvation induces sexual dimorphisms in secreted proteins of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) from twin pairs

There is growing evidence for sex and gender differences in the clinical manifestation and outcomes of human diseases. Human primary endothelial cells represent a useful cardiovascular model to study sexual dimorphisms at the cellular level. Here, we analyzed sexual dimorphisms of the secretome after serum starvation using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) from twin pairs of the opposite sex to minimize the impact of varying genetic background. HUVECs were starved for 5 and 16 h, respectively, and proteins of the cell culture supernatants were analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry. Altogether, 960 extracellular proteins were identified of which 683 were amendable to stringent quantification. Significant alterations were observed for 455 proteins between long-term and short-term starvation and the majority were similar in both sexes. Only 5 proteins showed significant sex-specific regulation between long-versus short-term starvation. Furthermore, 19 unique proteins with significant sexual dimorphisms at the same time points of serum starvation were observed. A larger number of proteins, for example tissue factor inhibitor 2 (TFPI2), displayed higher levels in the supernatants of females compared to male cells after long term serum starvation that might point to higher adaptation capacity of female cells. The overall results demonstrate that male and female cells differ in their secretome.     

Paracrine interleukin-8 affects mesenchymal stem cells through the Akt pathway and enhances human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation and migration

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) promotes cell homing and angiogenesis, but its effects on activating human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and promoting angiogenesis are unclear. We used bioinformatics to predict these processes. In vitro, BMSCs were stimulated in a high-glucose (HG) environment with 50 or 100 μg/ml IL-8 was used as the IL-8 group. A total of 5 μmol/l Triciribine was added to the two IL-8 groups as the Akt inhibitor group. Cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured in BMSCs conditioned medium (CM). The changes in proliferation, apoptosis, migration ability and levels of VEGF and IL-6 in HUVECs were observed in each group. Seventy processes and 26 pathways were involved in vascular development, through which IL-8 affected BMSCs. Compared with the HG control group, HUVEC proliferation absorbance value (A value), Gap closure rate, and Transwell cell migration rate in the IL-8 50 and IL-8 100 CM groups were significantly increased (P<0.01, n=30). However, HUVEC apoptosis was significantly decreased (P<0.01, n=30). Akt and phospho-Akt (P-Akt) protein contents in lysates of BMSCs treated with IL-8, as well as VEGF and IL-6 protein contents in the supernatant of BMSCs treated with IL-8, were all highly expressed (P<0.01, n=15). These analyses confirmed that IL-8 promoted the expression of 41 core proteins in BMSCs through the PI3K Akt pathway, which could promote the proliferation and migration of vascular endothelial cells. Therefore, in an HG environment, IL-8 activated the Akt signaling pathway, promoted paracrine mechanisms of BMSCs, and improved the proliferation and migration of HUVECs.     

cAMP inhibits cytokine-induced biosynthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

We studied the effects of cAMP on cytokine (interferon-gamma plus tumor necrosis factor-alpha)-induced stimulation of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) synthesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The cytokine mixture caused a marked increase in the biosynthesis and release of BH4 by HUVEC. Dibutyryl-cAMP produced a dose-dependent inhibition of this cytokine-induced stimulation of synthesis and release of BH4 by these cells. 8-Bromo-cAMP also caused a significant inhibition, although the effects were less marked than those of dibutyryl-cAMP. Both forskolin and the stable analog of prostacyclin, iloprost, caused cAMP accumulation and a concomitant diminution of the cytokine-induced BH4 synthesis in HUVEC. Dibutyryl-cAMP and iloprost also significantly inhibited the cytokine-induced stimulation of GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCHI) activity and mRNA production. We concluded that the suppression by the cAMP messenger system of cytokine-induced stimulation of synthesis and release of BH4 by HUVEC can be attributed to the inhibition of the activity of GCHI, the rate-limiting enzyme in BH4 biosynthetic pathway, in HUVEC. The data also suggest that the cAMP-mediated reduction in the GCHI mRNA level may at least partially explain the decline in GCHI activity. It is reasoned that under inflammatory conditions, cAMP-elevating agents such as prostacyclin exert regulatory effects on circulation by inhibiting cytokine-induced synthesis and release of BH4 by HUVEC.     

睾酮对人血管内皮细胞产生NO、tPA和PAI-1的影响

目的:观察不同浓度睾酮对人血管内皮细胞生长、产生舒张因子及纤溶活性的影响.方法:体外培养人脐静脉内皮细胞(HUVEC),分为五个浓度睾酮组及单纯培养基对照组.做MTT实验观察睾酮对HUVEC生长的影响;还原酶法测定各组HUVEC释放NO量;ELISA法测定各组培养基中纤溶酶原激活物(tPA)及其抑制物(PAI-1)含量.结果:3×10-10mol/L-3×10-8mol/L睾酮组与对照组相比细胞生长良好,无明显差别;而大于生理剂量的两组(3×10-6～3×10-1mol/L)3 d后细胞生长明显受到抑制(P＜0.05).各浓度睾酮组产生NO量与对照组无明显区别.而3×10-10 mol/L～3×10-8 mol/L睾酮组tPA含量明显高于对照组(P＜0.01);大剂量组tPA产生明显减少(P＜0.01).所有实验组的PAI-1含量均明显降低.结论:生理及略低于生理剂量的睾酮对HUVEC生长及释放NO无不利影响,且增加纤溶活性.说明生理剂量睾酮对血管内皮功能、心血管系统有一定的保护作用,有利于防止动脉粥样硬化的发生、发展.     

Inhibition of angiogenic differentiation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells by diallyl disulfide (DADS)

Angiogenesis is a crucial step in the growth and metastasis of cancers. The activation of endothelial cells and their further behaviour are very critical during angiogenesis. We analyzed the effect of diallyl disulfide (DADS) on angiogenesis in in vitro models using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). DADS significantly inhibited endothelial cell migration, invasion and tube formation. (3)H-thymidine proliferation assay clearly showed the inhibitory effect of DADS on the proliferation of HUVECs in vitro. The role of metalloproteinases has been shown to be important in angiogenesis; therefore, zymography was performed to determine whether DADS affected protease activity. Gelatin zymographic analysis showed the inhibitory effect of DADS on the activation of matrix metalloproteinases-MMP-2 and MMP-9. These findings suggest that DADS acts as an angiogenesis inhibitor by inhibiting the activation of matrix metalloproteinases during endothelial morphogenesis.     

脂联素抑制t-BHP诱导的内皮细胞凋亡作用及其可能机制探讨

目的：探讨重组脂联素对第三丁基过氧化氢（t-BHP）诱导的人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVECs）凋亡的影响及其相关的分子机制。方法：以HUVECs作为研究对象,给予t-BHP处理,模拟体外HUVECs氧化损伤细胞凋亡模型。在此基础上,用携带重组脂联素基因的腺病毒转染HUVECs,观察重组脂联素对t-BHP诱导的HUVECs凋亡的影响。用MTT法检测细胞增殖活力。Hochest/PI荧光染色检测细胞凋亡率。Western blot检测细胞凋亡相关蛋白p-JNK、JNK和Caspase 3表达水平的变化。结果：100 μmol/L的t-BHP作用8 h可诱导HUVECs发生凋亡。与对照组相比,t-BHP组p-JNK、active caspase 3表达增多（P<0.01）。HUVECs高表达重组脂联素基因后,可明显抑制t-BHP诱导的HUVECs凋亡（P<0.01）,下调t-BHP诱导的p-JNK、active caspase 3表达。结论：持续t-BHP氧化损伤可诱导HUVECs发生凋亡。重组脂联素可有效抑制t-BHP诱导的HUVECs凋亡,其机制与p-JNK、active caspase 3的表达下调有关。     

Antiapoptotic effect of ouabain on human umbilical vein endothelial cells

The present study investigates the effect of ouabain on caspase-3 activation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Ouabain (EC(50) 20 nM) reduced caspase-3 activity in HUVEC treated for 24h in a medium deprived of fibroblast growth factor (FGF). Incubation for 5h in the absence of both FGF and serum produced an increase in caspase-3 activity that was completely abolished by 100 nM ouabain. Pretreatment with the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI-3K) inhibitor, wortmannin, prevented the protective effect of ouabain against serum deprivation. Furthermore, Western blotting analysis revealed an increase in phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK-1 and ERK-2) induced by 100nM ouabain in serum-deprived cells. In accord, pretreatment of HUVEC with PD98059, inhibitor of the ERK pathway, abrogated the effect of ouabain. Our results show that ouabain has an antiapoptotic effect on HUVEC through the activation of PI-3K and ERK dependent pathways.     

AMPK inhibits fatty acid-induced increases in NF-kappaB transactivation in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells

The fuel sensing enzyme AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) enhances processes that generate ATP when stresses such as exercise or glucose deprivation make cells energy deficient. We report here a novel role of AMPK, to prevent the activation of NF-kappaB in endothelial cells exposed to the fatty acid palmitate or the cytokine TNF-alpha. Incubation of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) with elevated levels of palmitate (0.4mM) increased NF-kappaB reporter gene expression by 2- to 4-fold within 8h and caused a 7-fold increase in VCAM-1 mRNA expression at 24h. In contrast, no increase in reporter gene expression was detected for AP-1, glucocorticoid-, cyclic AMP-, or serum response elements. Similar increases in NF-kappaB activation and VCAM-1 expression were not observed in cells incubated with an elevated concentration of glucose (25mM). The increases in NF-kappaB activation and VCAM-1 expression caused by palmitate were markedly inhibited by co-incubation with the AMPK activator AICAR and, where studied, by expression of a constitutively active AMPK. Likewise, AMPK activation inhibited the increase in NF-kappaB reporter gene expression observed in HUVEC incubated with TNF-alpha. The results suggest that AMPK inhibits the activation of NF-kappaB caused by both palmitate and TNF-alpha. The mechanism responsible for this action, as well as its relevance to the reported anti-atherogenic actions of exercise, metformin, thiazolidinediones, and adiponectin, all of which have been shown to activate AMPK, remains to be determined.     

红杉醇对高糖诱导的人脐静脉内皮细胞NOX4、eNOS表达的影响

目的：观察红杉醇（Scq）对高糖诱导的人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVECs）损伤的保护作用及机制。方法：原代培养HUVECs,红杉醇（0．1,1,10μmol/L）预处理1h后,30mmol/L葡萄糖诱导内皮细胞损伤。5-溴脱氧尿嘧啶核苷（BrdU）掺入法检测细胞增殖,流式细胞术检测细胞周期,2’7’-二乙酰二氯荧光素（DCFH-DA）免疫荧光法检测细胞内活性氧簇（R0s）水平,比色法检测细胞-氧化氮（NO）、丙二醛（MDA）及过氧化氢（H202）水平,real-timePCR和Westernblot检测细胞内皮型一氧化氮合酶（eNos）及NADPH氧化酶4（NOX4）mRNA和蛋白表达。结果：Seq预处理1h后能明显减轻高糖诱导的血管内皮细胞损伤,促进细胞增殖,降低胞内NOX4的表达及ROS、MDA及H202水平,上调eNOS的表达及NO水平。结论：Seq对高糖诱导的内皮细胞损伤具有一定的保护作用,其机制可能与其抗氧化、上调eNOS的表达有关。