The Apoptotic Effect of Angiotensin II in Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Angiotensin II is a potent vasoconstrictor and mitogenic factor. However, the effects of angiotensin II on human vascular smooth muscle cells apoptosis remain controversial. Therefore, the current study was designed to investigate the actions of angiotensin II on human vascular smooth muscle cells apoptosis.Human saphenous vein was obtained from coronary artery bypass surgery (n=6) and was minced and incubated in the special tissue culture system in the absence or presence of angiotensin II (10-6 to 10-12M) for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, & 24 hours. These studies were repeated with losartan (10-6M, AT- 1 receptor antagonist) and PD-123319 (10-6M, AT-2 receptor antagonist). To detect the DNA fragmentation, in situ terminal deoxymucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) and DNA agarose gel analyses were performed. An average of 1000 nuclei was analyzed for TUNEL studies.TUNEL staining and DNA gel analysis demonstrated that angiotensin II increased apoptosis in human vascular smooth muscle cells.