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High glucose enhance expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 in smooth muscle cells
1Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200025, China. windfengfei@etang.com
Aim:
To investigate the effects of high glucose on expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in rat aortic smooth muscle cells and the influence of matrix remodeling on atherogenesis in diabetic patients.
Methods:
The smooth muscle cells were cultured from the thoracic aorta of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat. MMP-2 mRNA was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), MMP-2 protein was measured by Western blotting, and MMP-2 activity in conditioned medium was observed by zymography.
Results:
In comparison with the control, there was no difference in the expression of MMP-2 when glucose concentration was 1 g/L, whereas MMP-2 activity in smooth muscle cells was significantly increased by the glucose 5 g/L (P<0.01).
Conclusion:
High glucose enhanced the expression and activity of MMP-2 in smooth muscle cells, which may provide an explanation for the phenomenon that diabetes patients are prone to have atherosclerotic lesions.
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