title: Obstructive apneas induce early activation of mesenchymal stem cells and enhancement of endothelial wound healing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim was to test the hypothesis that the blood serum of rats subjected to recurrent airway obstructions mimicking obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) induces early activation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and enhancement of endothelial wound healing.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 30 control rats and 30 rats subjected to recurrent obstructive apneas (60 per hour, lasting 15 s each, for 5 h). The migration induced in MSC by apneic serum was measured by transwell assays. MSC-endothelial adhesion induced by apneic serum was assessed by incubating fluorescent-labelled MSC on monolayers of cultured endothelial cells from rat aorta. A wound healing assay was used to investigate the effect of apneic serum on endothelial repair.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Apneic serum showed significant increase in chemotaxis in MSC when compared with control serum: the normalized chemotaxis indices were 2.20 +/- 0.58 (m +/- SE) and 1.00 +/- 0.26, respectively (p < 0.05). MSC adhesion to endothelial cells was greater (1.75 +/- 0.14 -fold; p < 0.01) in apneic serum than in control serum. When compared with control serum, apneic serum significantly increased endothelial wound healing (2.01 +/- 0.24 -fold; p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The early increases induced by recurrent obstructive apneas in MSC migration, adhesion and endothelial repair suggest that these mechanisms play a role in the physiological response to the challenges associated to OSA.
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alba
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carreras
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rojas
authors.forename: Theodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsapikouni
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Montserrat
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Navajas
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Farré
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002633:Chemotaxis; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000097:blood*; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing