ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are used to repair hypoxic or ischemic tissue. However, the underlining mechanism of resistance in the hypoxic microenvironment and the efficacy of migration to the injured tissue are still unknown. The current study aims to understand the hypoxia resistance and migration ability of MSCs during differentiation toward endothelial lineages by biochemical and mechanical stimuli. METHOD: MSCs were harvested from the bone marrow of 6-8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats. The endothelial growth medium (EGM) was added to MSCs for 3 days to initiate endothelial differentiation. Laminar shear stress was used as the fluid mechanical stimulation. RESULTS: Application of EGM facilitated the early endothelial lineage cells (eELCs) to express EPC markers. When treating the hypoxic mimetic desferrioxamine, both MSCs and eELCs showed resistance to hypoxia as compared with the occurrence of apoptosis in rat fibroblasts. The eELCs under hypoxia increased the wound closure and C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) gene expression. Although the shear stress promoted eELC maturation and aligned cells parallel to the flow direction, their migration ability was not superior to that of eELCs either under normoxia or hypoxia. The eELCs showed higher protein expressions of CXCR4, phosphorylated Akt (pAkt), and endogenous NFκB and IκBα than MSCs under both normoxia and hypoxia conditions. The potential migratory signals were discovered by inhibiting either Akt or NFκB using specific inhibitors and revealed decreases of wound closure and transmigration ability in eELCs. CONCLUSION: The Akt and NFκB pathways are important to regulate the early endothelial differentiation and its migratory ability under a hypoxic microenvironment.
Subject(s)
Bone Marrow Cells/metabolism , Endothelial Progenitor Cells/metabolism , Mesenchymal Stem Cells/metabolism , NF-kappa B/genetics , Oxygen/pharmacology , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/genetics , Animals , Bone Marrow Cells/cytology , Bone Marrow Cells/drug effects , Cell Differentiation/drug effects , Cell Hypoxia/genetics , Cell Movement/drug effects , Culture Media/chemistry , Culture Media/pharmacology , Deferoxamine/pharmacology , Endothelial Progenitor Cells/cytology , Endothelial Progenitor Cells/drug effects , Gene Expression Regulation , Mesenchymal Stem Cells/cytology , Mesenchymal Stem Cells/drug effects , NF-KappaB Inhibitor alpha/genetics , NF-KappaB Inhibitor alpha/metabolism , NF-kappa B/metabolism , Phosphorylation , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Receptors, CXCR4/genetics , Receptors, CXCR4/metabolism , Signal Transduction , Stress, MechanicalABSTRACT
Hypoxic-ischemia injury occurs after trauma causes consequential bone necrosis. Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are frequently used in orthopedic clinics for pain relief. However, the underlying mechanism and outcome for usage of NSAIDs is poorly understood. To investigate the damage and loss of osteoblast function in hypoxia, two hypoxia mimetics, cobalt chloride (CoCl(2)) and desferrioxamine (DFO), were used to create an in vitro hypoxic microenvironment. The cell damage was observed by decreases of cell viability and increases in cyclooxygenase-2 and cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Cell apoptosis was confirmed by WST-1 cytotoxic assays and flow cytometry. The functional expression of osteoblast in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was significantly decreased by CoCl(2) and inhibited when treated with DFO. To simulate the use of NSAID after hypoxic injury, four types of anti-inflammatory drugs, sulindac sulfide (SUL), indomethacin (IND), aspirin (Asp), and sodium salicylate (NaS), were applied to osteoblasts after 1 h of hypoxia mimetic treatment. SUL and IND further enhanced cell death after hypoxia. ALP activity was totally abolished in hypoxic osteoblasts under IND treatment. Facilitation of osteoblast apoptosis occurred regardless of IND dosage under hypoxic conditions. To investigate osteoblast in vivo, local hypoxia was created by fracture of tibia and then treated the injured mice with IND by oral feeding. IND-induced osteoblast apoptosis was confirmed by positive staining of TUNEL assay in fractured mice. Significant delay of fracture healing in bone tissue was also observed with the treatment of IND. These results provide information pertaining to choosing appropriate anti-inflammatory drugs for orthopedic patients.
