Superoxide Anions and Endothelial Cell Proliferation in Normoglycemia and Hyperglycemia

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Abstract
—Oxygen free radicals are believed to play a key role in cellular proliferation, and increased concentrations of these molecules have been implicated in the pathogenesis of endothelial dysfunction in diabetes mellitus. Our aim was to study the role of superoxide anions in endothelial cell proliferation under conditions of normoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) exposed to adenoviral vectors encoding CuZnSOD (AdCuZnSOD), β-galactosidase (Adβgal), or diluent (control) were cultured in normal glucose (NG, 5.5 mmol/L) or high glucose (HG, 28 mmol/L) medium. Cell proliferation was compared by use of [3H]thymidine incorporation and cell count in transduced and control cells in the setting of NG and HG. Transgene expression was detected in transduced cells by X-gal staining and by Western analysis and SOD activity assay in AdCuZnSOD-transduced cells. Superoxide production was significantly (PPP<0.05) in control (73±2.5%) and Adβgal-transduced (75±3.4%) but not in AdCuZnSOD-transduced cells (89±3.4%). These results suggest that either a deficiency or an excess of superoxide anions inhibits endothelial cell proliferation, and the inhibitory effect of increased superoxide due to hyperglycemia can be reversed by CuZnSOD overexpression.