Influence of hypoxia and hypoxia-reoxygenation on endothelial P-selectin expression

P-selectin is an endothelial adhesion molecule involved in the initial step of the neutrophil recruitment. We investigated the effect of hypoxia (95% N2, 5% CO2) and of hypoxia-reoxygenation (95% air, 5% CO2) on the expression of P-selectin by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). P-selectin expression was detected by immunolabelling and quantified by flow cytometric analysis. Our data indicate that hypoxia induces an increase in P-selectin expression with a maximum reached after 90 minutes. A hypoxic exposure of 90 minutes results in a highly significant increase compared to normoxia (p < 0.001, n = 13). Furthermore, when a reoxygenation period follows 90 minutes of hypoxia, the initially elevated levels of P-selectin are dramatically enhanced with a maximum obtained after 60 minutes of reoxygenation.