Issue Archive

[Effects of Rho/ROCK signal pathway on AGEs-induced morphological and functional changes in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells.] [Ariticle in Chinese]

WANG Ji-Ping, GUO Xiao-Hua, WANG Ling-Jun, LI Qiang, CHEN Bo, WU Wei, HUANG Xu-Liang, HUANG Qiao-Bing^*

Department of Pathophysiology, Southern Medical University, the Key Laboratory of Shock and Microcirculation of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510515, China

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the role of Rho/Rho kinase (Rho/ROCK) phosphorylation on advanced glycation end products (AGEs)-induced morphological and functional changes in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HMVECs). HMVECs were respectively incubated with different concentrations of AGEs-modified human serum albumin (AGEs-HSA) for different time. In some other cases, HMVECs were pretreated with ROCK inhibitors (H-1152 or Y-27632). The morphological changes of F-actin cytoskeleton were visualized by rhodamine-phalloidin staining and the phosphorylation of Rho and ROCK were determined by Western blot. Endothelial monolayer permeability was assessed by measuring the flux of FITC-albumin across the endothelial cells. The results showed that the distribution of F-actin was significantly altered by AGEs-HSA in time and dose-dependent patterns. These effects were inhibited by ROCK inhibitors. The phosphorylation of Rho and RCOK was remarkably increased by AGEs-HSA treatment while total Rho and ROCK protein levels were not affected. The permeability of endothelial monolayer was dramatically increased by AGEs-HSA, and both ROCK inhibitors (H-1152 or Y-27632) attenuated these hyperpermeability responses. The results obtained suggest that the phosphorylation of Rho/ROCK plays an important role in AGEs-induced morphological and functional alterations in HMVECs.

Key words: Rho kinase; advanced glycation end products; endothelial cell; actin cytoskeleton

Received: 2008-11-19　　Accepted: 2009-01-12

Corresponding author: 黄巧冰　　E-mail: bing@fimmu.com

Citing This Article：

WANG Ji-Ping, GUO Xiao-Hua, WANG Ling-Jun, LI Qiang, CHEN Bo, WU Wei, HUANG Xu-Liang, HUANG Qiao-Bing. [Effects of Rho/ROCK signal pathway on AGEs-induced morphological and functional changes in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells.] [Ariticle in Chinese] . Acta Physiol Sin 2009; 61 (2): 132-138 (in Chinese with English abstract).