Influence of dehydroepiandrosterone on production of NO, ETª²1 and expression of ICAMª²1 in endothelial cells

    ZHOU Juan, YANG Yuª²Bai, AO Peiª²Yuan, LEI Liª²Quan

    1Department of Pathophysiology, Medical College, Xi¬ðan Jiaotong University, Xi¬ðan 710061, China, 2Department of Orthopedics, Baoji Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Baoji 721001, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the influence of dehydroepiandrosterone on the synthesis of NO, secretion of ETª²1 and the expression of ICAMª²1 in endothelial cells. METHODS: The cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells ECV304 was treated by DHEA and the level of NO and ETª²1 in medium was detected by nitrite/nitrate colorimetric method and radioimmunoassay. The surface expression of ICAMª²1 on cells was detected immunohistochemically. RESULTS: In comparison with those of control, the content of NO in medium decreased from (387¡À12) to (242¡À11) ¦Ìmol/L (P<0.05), but the concentration of ETª²1 in medium increased from (397¡À13) to (626¡À29) ng/L (P<0.05) along with the increase of concentration of DHEA. The content of NO in medium of control group was similar at every time point(P>0.05), but DHEA timeª²dependently decreased the content of NO (P<0.05). The concentration of ETª²1 in medium timeª²dependently increased both in control group and in DHEA group (P<0.05), and it was higher in DHEA group. Higher concentration of DHEA or longer treatment time, DHEA did not affect the ICAMª²1 expression. CONCLUSION: DHEA can adjust the function of vessels by regulating the production of NO and ETª²1 of endothelial cells. ......