Ferulic acid inhibits endothelial cell proliferation through NO down-regulating ERK1/2 pathway

The aim of this study was to determine the antiproliferative mechanism of ferulic acid (FA) on serum induced ECV304 cell, a human umbilical vein endothelial line. The results suggest that FA significantly suppressed ECV304 cells proliferation and blocked the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase. Treatment of the cells with FA increased nitric oxide (NO) production and inactivated the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (EERK1/2), and the NO donor, sodium nitroprusside, inhibited both ECV304 cells proliferation and phosphorylation of ERK1/2. However, the NO synthase inhibitor, Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, caused ECV304 cells proliferation. PD 98059, the inhibitor of ERK1/2, had no effect on the NO production. These results indicate that NO suppressed ECV304 cells proliferation through down-regulating ERK1/2 pathway. Moreover, the inhibition of cell cycle progression was associated with the decrement of cyclin D1 expression and phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein (pRb) by increment of p21 level. The findings not only present the first evidence that FA is a potent inhibitor on ECV304 cells proliferation, but also reveal the potential signaling molecules involved in its action.