Matrix metalloproteinase-9 induces cardiac fibroblast migration, collagen and cytokine secretion: inhibition by salvianolic acid B from Salvia miltiorrhiza

Cardiac fibroblasts play the key role in cardiac function and matrix metalloproteinases-9 (MMP-9) is a well known contributor to the development of myocardial remodeling. However, the direct regulation of MMP-9 on the function of cardiac fibroblasts and the underlying mechanism are far from elucidation. In the present research, recombinant protein encoding catalytic domain of MMP-9 (MMP-9 CD) was constructed and the function of neonatal cardiac fibroblasts was investigated by cell proliferation assay, migration assay, picrosirius red assay, multiplex cytokine assay and fibroblast phenotype detection. 200 nM MMP-9 CD stimulated cardiac fibroblasts migration (169.4±22.5% versus 100±0%, p<0.01), increased collagen synthesis (1.5±0.2 fold, p<0.05), up-regulated the secretion of ICAM (574.0±40.1 versus 268.5±8.6pg/ml, p<0.01), TNF-α (192.6±11.0 versus 14.4±1.8pg/ml, p<0.001), IL-6 (1500.9±70.2 versus 323.4±40.6pg/ml, p<0.001) and sVCAM-1 (30.3±4.3 versus 7.0±0.1 pg/ml, p<0.05) and down-regulated VEGF (436.5±148.9 versus 1034.3±28.1 pg/ml, p<0.05) significantly with modest effects on proliferation. Accompanying with these regulations, transition of fibroblasts to myofibroblast was confirmed by immunofluorescent stain of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) with MMP-9 CD treatment. Furthermore, salvianolic acid B (SalB) inhibited the effects of MMP-9 CD significantly. In conclusion, our results provide evidence for a direct influence of MMP-9 on cardiac fibroblast migration, collagen and cytokine secretion, which can be attenuated by SalB.