ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of antisense telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) on 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) induced proliferation and cell cycle of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). Methods PASMCs were cultured and divided into four groups: control group (cultured in RPMI-1640 culture medium), 5-HT group (cultured in culture medium containing 5-HT), antisense oligonucleotide (ASODN) group (cultured in culture medium containing 5-HT and ASODN TERT), and sense oligonucleotide (SODN) group (cultured in culture medium containing 5-HT and SODN TERT). The apoptosis of PASMC was observed by fluorescence microscopy with Hoechst staining. Apoptosis and cell cycle was analyzed with flow cytometry. Expression of proliferated cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was determined by immunohistochemistry staining. Results Hoechst staining showed that apoptosis in 5-HT group (161?33) was significantly higher than that in control group (63?16, P