ABSTRACT
The effect of zinc on the repair of wounded monolayers of bovine aortic endothelial cells in a culture system was investigated. It was morphologically found that zinc promotes the appearance of the cells in the wounded area; cell number in the area was significantly increased by zinc. However, other heavy metals including copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt failed to exhibit a similar effect. The repair induced by exogenous basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was potentiated by zinc but that by exogenous acidic fibroblast growth factor was unaffected by the metal. Promotion of the repair of the wounded area by zinc was completely blocked by either cycloheximide or anti-bFGF antibody. In addition, zinc-induced repair was significantly inhibited by a lipoxygenase inhibitor, nordihydroguaiaretic acid but not by a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin. From these results, it is suggested that zinc promotes the repair process of damaged vascular endothelium through the lipoxygenase pathway that mediates the response of vascular endothelial cells to endogenous bFGF.
