Effects of tumor necrosis factor-α-induced exosomes on the endothelial cellular behavior, metabolism and...

To investigate the effects of TNF-α-induced exosomes release on the biological behavior, metabolism, and bioenergetics of HUVECs.

Exosomes were isolated from conditioned media of HUVECs by ultracentrifugation after treatment with or without TNF-α. HUVECs were treated with or without TNF-α, or different concentrations of exosomes isolated from conditioned media with or without TNF-α induction (T_Exo and C_Exo , respectively).

The results showed that TNF-α significantly inhibited migration, tube formation, and increased apoptosis rate of HUVECs compared with controls. Furthermore, TNF-α-induced exosomes (T_Exo ) rather than C_Exo , indicated similar effects to inhibit migration, tube formation and promote endothelial apoptosis. Although TNF-α treatment did not show a statistical difference, T_Exo significantly inhibited extracellular OCR compared with controls. T_Exo could significantly inhibited intracellular OCR in a hypoxia condition. TNF-α significantly increased L-ECA compared with control cells, and T_Exo showed similar stimulative effect on L-ECA.

TNF-α-induced exosomes could significantly (a) change migration, tube formation, and apoptosis; (b) inhibit endothelial extracellular OCR and intracellular OCR (hypoxia); (c) increase glycolysis rate of the endothelial cells. These data provide new evidence for exploring endothelial behavior regulation using exosomes and their effects on endothelial metabolism and bioenergetics.