Abstract
Objectives:
To investigate the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) for the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in high glucose and the related mechanisms.
Material and methods:
HUVECs were cultured under different conditions for 48 h. The apoptosis rate of cells was detected by flow cytometry, the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS was measured by Western blot, and the production of nitric oxide (NO) was detected by NO assay kit.
Results:
HUVECs were incubated in high glucose, the apoptosis rate of cells increased, the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS reduced, and the production of NO decreased. After GLP-1 was added into the high glucose, the apoptosis rate of cells significantly reduced, the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS and the production of NO obviously increased. After exendin, wortmannine and L-NAME were added into high glucose and GLP-1, respectively, exendin, wortmannine and L-NAME increased the cell apoptosis, down-regulated the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS and dropped the production of NO, except that L-NAME made no difference on the expression of p-Akt.
Conclusion:
GLP-1 increased the expression of Akt and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in HUVECs via the up-regulation of PI3K/Akt/eNOS pathway and decreased the apoptosis rate of HUVECs in high glucose.
Hydrogen sulfide facilities production of nitric oxide via the Akt/endothelial nitric oxide synthases signaling pathway to protect human umbilical vein endothelial cells from injury by angiotensin II
