Variant Endothelial cells of human aorta

1)原代培养的内皮细胞在形态上可分为典型内皮细胞和变异内皮细胞。典型的内皮细胞较小，呈圆形或多角形，排列均匀。变异型内皮细胞较大，大小为100~200微米，有时直径大于250微米，有多核。变异内皮细胞与典型细胞的比率与动脉粥样硬化的严重程度的相关性比与年龄的相关性更好，这在实验性动脉粥样硬化兔中得到了证实。变性的低密度脂蛋白、白介素4和氧自由基可在体外形成不同的内皮细胞。2)为探讨增龄对人主动脉内皮细胞功能的影响，对人主动脉内皮细胞合成前列环素进行了定性和定量检测，并进行了免疫组织化学检测。血管内皮细胞，年轻组在常规培养条件下合成的前列环素最多，老年组合成逐渐减少。免疫组织化学显示，年轻人的主动脉内皮细胞前列环素呈强阳性，而老年人的主动脉内皮细胞的前列环素强度较低。增厚的主动脉内膜内的平滑肌细胞免疫反应较弱。随着年龄的增长，前列环素合成减少可能在血栓形成和动脉粥样硬化的发生和发展中起重要作用。3)内皮细胞与炎症细胞或单核/巨噬细胞之间的相互作用目前仍在研究中。4)尽管与该项目没有直接关系，但我们建立了一种用于福尔马林固定和石蜡包埋切片的酶联免疫组织化学方法来检测“内皮素”。

1) Endothelial cells in primary culture were morphologically classified into two types : typical endothelium and variant endothelium. Typical endothelial cells were small, round to polygonal, and arranged uniformly. Variant endothelial cells were larger, ranging from 100 to 200 um, and sometimes more than 250 um in diameter with multinuclei. The ratio of variant endothelial cells to typical cells correlated well with the severity of atherosclerosis than with aging and it was confirmed in experimental atherosclerotic rabbits. Variant endothelial cells can be formed by denatured LDL, interleukin-4 and oxyradicals in vitro.2) To investigate the functional alteration of human aortic endothelial cells with aging, prostacyclin synthesis was qualitatively and quantitatively examined, and also immunohistochemically examined. endothelial cells, the young group synthesized the largest amount of prostacyclin in a conventional culture condition, with synthesis progressively decreasing in the older groups. Immunohistologically, endothelial cells in young aortas revealed intensely positive for prostacyclin, but the intensity of aortic endothelial cells from older subjects was low. Smooth muscle cells in the thickened intima of the aorta were weakly immunoreactive. The decreased synthesis of prostacyclin with age may play an important role in the development and advancement of thrombosis and atherosclerosis.3) Interaction between endothelial cells and inflammatory cells or monocytes/macrophages is currently underinvestigation.4) Although not directly related to this project, we developed a method of enzyme-linked immunohistochemistry for detection of "endothelin" useful on formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded sections.