ABSTRACT
AIM: To study the role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in portal hypertension (PHT) induced by endotoxin. METHODS: Collagenase in situ perfusion was adopted to separate hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). HSCs was cultured on concretized collagen. ET-1 anti-sense oligonucleotide was added into the culture medium and then LPS was also added up to the concentration of 1 000 ?g/L. The diameters of the concretized collagen were measured. Sense and mis-sense oligonucleotide were applied as control. ET-1 in the culture medium was detected by radioimmunoassay and ET-1 mRNA in HSCs was detected by RT-PCR. ?-actin of HSCs was detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The diameter of concretized collagen on which HSCs pretreated with ET-1 anti-sense oligonucleotide was 93.3%?3.8% the size of the primary. The diameter of concretized collagen of the control groups were 70.1%?4.8% and 70.5%?3.9% (P