The antiproliferative effect of pinostrobin on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC)

T.R.L. Siekmann, K.M. Burgazli, M.A. Bobrich, G. Nöll, A. Erdogan

Institute of Physiology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. prof.erdogan@gempraxbalserstift.de

 

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• Internal Medicine

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis and stent re-stenosis are problems that are accompanied with high morbidity and mortality. Endothelial cell proliferation plays a role in both diseases, so the quest for potent inhibitors is still ongoing.

AIM: The flavonoid pinostrobin previously showed cytotoxic effects on different cell lines. In this investigation, we tested the antiproliferative effect of pinostrobin on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effect of pinostrobin on human umbilical vein endothelial cells after 1 hour and after 48 hours of treatment was tested. A dose- and time-dependent antiproliferative effect of pinostrobin was observed.

RESULTS: After 1 hour of treatment, no significant differences between the control group and the cells treated with pinostrobin could be detected. After 48 h of pinostrobin treatment, the number of cells decreased significantly. Higher doses had stronger inhibitory effects on the proliferation. Furthermore, we tested the change of membrane potential on cells that were treated with different concentrations of pinostrobin. We could show that the change of membrane potential was also time- as well as dose-dependent.

CONCLUSIONS: Our hypothesis is that pinostrobin leads to depolarisation of the cell potential of endothelial cells. Since the membrane potential remains less negative, this could lead to instability of the membrane, resulting in cell death.

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