title: Porcine aortic endothelial cells show little effects on smooth muscle cells but are potent stimulators of cardiomyocyte growth.
abstract: Smooth muscle cells (SMC) and endothelial cells (EC) play a pivotal role in arteriogenesis and atherosclerosis. We evaluated the role of EC on the growth of SMC and neonatal cardiomyocytes (NEO) by using serum-free EC-supernatant (AoCM). Five percent fetal calf serum was used in order to mimic growth effects of blood. EC and SMC purities were 99% as determined by absence or presence of markers such as CD31, desmin, alpha-smooth muscle actin and tropomyosin using immunostaining and FACS analysis. AoCM markedly influenced the morphology of NEO as determined by alpha-actinin staining but showed only little effect on the phenotype of SMC. Protein synthesis after 2 days increased 2.5-fold in SMC and 3.7-fold in NEO as determined by tritium incorporation. The values for serum (2.8 and 2.3-fold, respectively) were comparable. The induction of DNA-synthesis by serum in NEO was twice that of AoCM (3.9-fold). However, proliferative effects of serum and AoCM on SMC differed markedly: Serum induced a 66-fold increase in DNA-synthesis resulting in a 54% higher cell number. DNA-synthesis after AoCM treatment lead to a nonsignificant small increase and no proliferation was detected. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF-AB), present in blood, induced a 47-fold increase in DNA-synthesis and a 38% increase in cell number. Our data suggest that EC in the absence of physical forces exert strong morphogenic effects on cardiomyocytes but they lack specific effects on smooth muscle cells. In vessels EC might function as a border to isolate SMC from key regulators in blood such as PDGFs.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Vascular Genomics, Kerckhoff Clinic, Bad Nauheim, Germany. t.kubin@vascular-genomics.de
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubin
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Jutta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wetzel
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hein
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pipp
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Herold
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heil
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kampmann
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hehlgans
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: von der Ahe
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schaper
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001011:Aorta / Q000166:cytology; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D032389:Myocytes, Smooth Muscle / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D004247:DNA