Abstract:
This paper is to report the exploration of the activation of Rho/ROCK signal pathway in 5-HT-induced proliferation of rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) and the inhibitory effect of
m-Nis on this pathway. PASMCs were cultured with the explant technique. MTT assay was used to explore the proliferation of PASMCs after 5-HT treated for different time and the intervening effect of
m-Nis. RT-PCR and Western blot were used respectively to explore the mRNA expression of RhoA, ROCK1 and the protein expression of p-MYPT1 in 5-HT-treated PASMCs and intervening effect of
m-Nis. The results of MTT assay suggested that 5-HT (1 μmol·L
-1) treatment for 12-72 h significantly induced the proliferation of rat PASMCs (
P < 0.05 or
P < 0.01), which were inhibited by
m-Nis (1×10
-5, 1×10
-6, 1×10
-7, 1×10
-8 mol·L
-1) in dose-dependent manners (
P < 0.05 or
P < 0.01). Similarly, the mRNA expression of RhoA, ROCK1 and the protein expression of p-MYPT1 were also inhibited by
m-Nis in different degrees (
P < 0.05 or
P < 0.01). Thus, the results of this study suggested that Rho/ROCK pathway played an important role in 5-HT-induced proliferation of rat PASMCs,
m-Nis inhibited 5-HT-induced proliferation obviously, which may be related to the blockage of Rho/ROCK signal pathway.