Author(s)

Yang Jiang, Yuefei Wang, Yongtao Li, Haifeng Jin, Shanqiang Zhang, Yusuan Wu, and Lijie Yao

Corresponding Author

Lijie Yao

Abstract

Hypoxia-induced pulmonary endothelial dysfunction plays critical roles in the pathological process of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Isoliquiritigenin (ISL), a member of the flavonoid family, possesses numerous pharmacological properties and has beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. In this study, rat primary pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) were divided into a total 5 groups: normoxia, hypoxia, hypoxia+25μM ISL, hypoxia+50μM ISL, and hypoxia+100μM ISL. To determine the effect of ISL on the regulation of hypoxia-induced secretion of inflammatory cytokines and vasoactive factors in PAECs, the levels of ET-1, TNF-α and IL-6 were measured in cell culture supernatant. In addition, HIF-1α, ET-1, TNF-α, and IL-6 mRNA levels were also assessed. The results showed that hypoxia increased the levels of ET-1, TNF-α and IL-6 in cell culture supernatant and upregulated HIF-1α, ET-1, TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA levels in PAECs. However, ISL reduced the levels of ET-1, TNF-α and IL-6 in cell culture supernatant and prevented hypoxia-induced HIF-1α, ET-1, TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA induction. Our results showed that ISL might have protective effects on hypoxia-induced PAECs dysfunction.

Keywords

Isoliquiritigenin, Pulmonary arterial hypertension, Hypoxia, Primary pulmonary artery endothelial cells, Dysfunction