[Effect of hypoxia on proliferation and differentiation of the pulmonary vascular pericytes].
OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of hypoxia on proliferation and differentiation of the pulmonary vascular pericytes (PC).


METHODS
Cell culture, (3)H-thymidine incorporation ((3)H-TdR), immunocytochemistry and image analysis methods were used.


RESULTS
It was found that the (3)H-thymidine incorporation, the expression amounts of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SM-Actin) in direct hypoxia (H) group was 2.16 times (P < 0.01), 1.16 times(P < 0.01) and 1.11 times (P < 0.05) that of normoxia (N) group, in hypoxic endothelial cell conditioned medium (HECCM) group was 1.8 times (P < 0.01), 1.15 times (P < 0.01) and 1.12 times (P < 0.05) that of normoxic endothelial cell conditioned medium (NECCM) group.


CONCLUSIONS
It was suggested that hypoxia can stimulate pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAEC) to secrete some growth factors to enhance PC proliferation and transformation of smooth muscle-like cells.
Wang
L
L
Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tongji Medical University, Wuhan 430030.
Xiong
M
M
Che
D
D
Yuan
Y
Y
Liu
S
S
D000199:Actins / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000209:etiology; D020286:Pericytes / Q000166:cytology*; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013552:Swine
D000199:Actins; D018809:Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen