Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on March 16, 2004
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Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 325-330, 2004
© European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 2004
Relaxin potentiates the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase by endothelial cells from human umbilical vein in in vitro culture
1Department Anatomy, Histology & Forensic Medicine, Section of Histology, University of Florence, Florence and 2Department Experimental & Clinical Pharmacology, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Dipartimento di Anatomia, Istologia e Medicina Legale. Sezione di Istologia, Università di Firenze, V.le G.Pieraccini, 6, I-50139 Florence, Italy. e-mail: daniele.bani{at}unifi.it
The hormone relaxin (RLX), which can be detected in human venous cord blood, has been shown to be a potent vasodilator, acting through increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS II) and nitric oxide (NO) generation. This study aims at clarifying whether RLX, at concentrations of 100 and 1000 ng/ml for 6 or 12 h of exposure, can influence the expression of NOS isoforms in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) cultured in vitro. NOS mRNA expression was studied by quantitative real-time RT–PCR, NOS protein expression and activity was studied by Western blot and nitrite assay, and immunoreactive NOS localization was performed by confocal microscopy. Untreated HUVEC expressed all the NOS isoforms, especially the constitutive, endothelial-type NOS III and, to a lesser extent, NOS II and NOS I. RLX-treated cells showed an increased expression of NOS II, attaining a maximum with 1000 ng/ml RLX, which gave rise to increased NO generation, as shown by nitrite assay. This effect of RLX appears to be mediated by activation of NOS II transcription factor NF-kappaB, since it was abolished by the NF-kappaB inhibitors curcumin-95 and dexamethasone. These findings suggest that RLX in the umbilical vein might contribute to the NO-dependent regulation of vascular tone.
Key words: Key words: human umbilical vein endothelial cells/relaxin/nitric oxide synthase I/NOS II/NOS III
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