Modification of prostacyclin-stimulatory activity in sera by glucose, insulin, low density lipoprotein, linoleic acid and linoleic acid hydroperoxide

Vitamin E restores reduced prostacyclin synthesis in aortic endothelial cells cultured with a high concentration of glucose

Reduced prostacyclin (PGI2) production by the vascular wall may play an important role in the pathogenesis of vascular lesions such as atherosclerosis. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of vitamin E on the production of PGI2 and other prostaglandins (prostaglandin E2 [PGE2], thromboxane A2 [TXA2], and 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid [15-HETE]) by bovine aortic endothelial cells cultured in a high concentration of glucose (300 mg/dL). Compared with endothelial cells cultured in 100 mg/dL glucose, the production of PGI2 and other prostaglandins, except 15-HETE, was significantly reduced in cultures containing 300 mg/dL glucose when stimulated by histamine, the Ca2+ ionophore, A23187, or human plasma-derived serum (PDS). The addition of vitamin E to each stimulant significantly restored the production of PGI2, PGE2, and TXA2, products of the cyclo-oxygenase pathway, in aortic endothelial cells cultured in 300 mg/dL glucose. This effect of vitamin E on the stimulation of prostaglandin production was generally specific for D-alpha-tocopherol, but not for the other vitamin E analogs tested. However, vitamin E and the stimulants had no effect on the production of 15-HETE, a product of the lipoxygenase pathway. Moreover, vitamin E alone, without stimulants, did not affect prostaglandin production in cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells. These results suggest that vitamin E may restore reduced PGI2, PGE2, or TXA2 production by bovine aortic endothelial cells cultured in a high concentration of glucose. It seems likely that vitamin E may restore depressed PGI2 production by the vascular wall in hyperglycemic conditions such as those seen in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Partial purification of serum prostacyclin stimulatory activity by heparin-agarose column; abnormality detected in diabetics

Human plasma-derived serum (PDS) stimulated the production of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha (a stable metabolite of PGI2) by cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells. The stimulation was both time- and dose-dependent. The main prostacyclin stimulatory activity (PSA) in human PDS remained biologically active after dialysis and was inhibited by the simultaneous addition of heparin. The maximum inhibition of PSA was obtained with 10 micrograms/ml heparin. PDS obtained from patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, n = 24) showed significantly less PSA than that from the control subjects (n = 11). A decrease in PSA was also found in diabetic patients using dialyzed PDS. The PSA in human PDS had a specific binding affinity to heparin-agarose and the bound PSA was eluted by a linear gradient of NaCl, which showed two major PSA peaks at 1.0 and 1.5 M NaCl. The dialyzed, mixed PDS from patients with NIDDM and the control subjects was independently applied to a heparin-agarose column and eluted by a linear gradient of NaCl. Comparing the PSA in each peak between the diabetic and the control dialyzed PDS, the PSA at 1.5 M NaCl was markedly decreased in the diabetic patients, but the PSA at 1.0 M NaCl did not change significantly. These observations suggest that the decreased PSA in human diabetic PDS may result mainly from the decrease in the activity of a specific non-dialyzed factor(s) which can bind to heparin. The decreased PSA in serum seems to be responsible in part for decreased PGI2 synthesis by the vascular wall of diabetics.