Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1931707 | Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications | 2010 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
Nitroalkene derivatives of nitro-linoleic acid (LNO2) and nitro-oleic acid (OA-NO2) are nitrated unsaturated fatty acids that can be detected in healthy human plasma, red blood cells and urine. It has been shown that nitroalkenes have potent anti-inflammatory properties in multiple disease models. In the present study, we are the first to investigate the apoptotic effects of nitroalkenes in rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMCs). We observed that nitroalkenes induce RASMCs apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, nitroalkenes stimulate extrinsic caspase-8 and intrinsic caspase-9 activity to trigger the caspase-3 apoptotic signaling cascade, resulting in RASMCs death. Furthermore, the pro-apoptotic protein, Bad was upregulated and antiapoptotic protein, Bcl-xl was downregulated during nitroalkene-induced apoptosis. These results demonstrate that nitroalkenes can induce RASMCs apoptosis via stimulation of caspase activity and the regulation of apoptotic protein expression levels.
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Biochemistry
Authors
Xiaochun Tang, Yanhong Guo, Kae Nakamura, Huarong Huang, Milton Hamblin, Lin Chang, Luis Villacorta, Kejie Yin, Hongsheng Ouyang, Jifeng Zhang,