Carbamylated erythropoietin promotes vascular microcirculation following cerebral infarction / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Carbamylated erythropoietin (CEPO) cannot only remarkably promote the prognosis of cerebral infraction, but also improve the microcirculation. OBJECTIVE: To explore the underlying mechanism of CEPO promoting the microcirculation following cerebral infraction. METHODS: 150 Wistar rats were selected, and 120 rats were used for establishing the models of cerebral infarction, followed by allotted into four groups. The model rats were treated with 500, 1000 and 2000 u/kg CEPO as experimental groups, and those received no treatment as model group. The other 30 rats were as controls. Vascular endothelial cells were isolated and cultured in vitro, and the cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8 assay. The expression levels of proliferation-related genes (Ki67 and p16) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were detected using western blot assay. After selective silencing of VEGF through RNA interference, all above indicators were detected again. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Cell counting kit-8 assay results showed that the proliferation ability of vascular endothelial cells was increased with CEPO concentration increasing. Western blot assay results showed a significant upregulation of Ki67, p16 and VEGF. After shRNA-VEFG interference, these indicators had no positive correlation with the increased concentration of CEPO. Our findings indicate that CEPO can improve the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells in an animal model of cerebral infarction via upregulating the VEGF expression.