J Korean Pediatr Soc.  2003 Feb;46(2):167-172.

Hypoxia Induced Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Rat Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells

• Nho US
• Kim YH
• Hyun MC
• Lee SB

Abstract

PURPOSE
Pulmonary vascular hypertension is a common problem in congenital heart disease, the most common cardiac condition in childhood. However, the mechanisms responsible for this pathologic change, treatment, and prevention are poorly understood. Therefore, we studied the gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) by using a hypoxic model of the pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells.
METHODS
The main pulmonary artery and its proximal branches of a 6 wk old Fischer rat were excised. They were cut into multiple small pieces and suspended in DMEM medium supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum and incubated in 5% CO2-95% air atmosphere. The smooth muscle cells were confirmed by immunostaining with smooth muscle myosin and alpha-smooth muscle actin antibodies. The VEGF gene expression in the hypoxic group was compared with the one in control the group as well as the one in the starved group by RT-PCR and Northern blot hybridization.
RESULTS
There was no statistically significant difference among the control, hypoxic and starved groups.
CONCLUSION
There are few studies of pulmonary vascular hypertension at the molecular level in Korea. Therefore, we studied the expression of VEGF gene in hypoxic pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells. Further studies will be needed to find the difference between newly born and adult rats, or human and rat pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells in gene expression. We hope that the study will lead to a better understanding of pulmonary vascular hypertension.

Keyword

Hypoxia; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells; RT-PCR; Northern blot hybridization

MeSH Terms

Actins
Adult
Animals
Anoxia*
Antibodies
Atmosphere
Blotting, Northern
Gene Expression
Heart Defects, Congenital
Hope
Humans
Hypertension
Korea
Muscle, Smooth*
Muscle, Smooth, Vascular
Myocytes, Smooth Muscle*
Myosins
Pulmonary Artery*
Rats*
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*
Actins
Antibodies
Myosins
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A