73. Vitamin D enhances endothelial integrity and antagonizes inflammatory effects

Abstract

Introduction Preeclampsia, is associated with chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and higher cardiovascular morbidity in later life. During the past two decades endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have come into research focus as a potential biomarker for cardiovascular risk. Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFC), a subgroup of EPCs, display high regeneration ability, play a role in vasculogenesis and have the capacity of de novo vessel formation. ECFC number and function is impaired in preeclampsia and we recently demonstrated that vitamin D antagonizes the negative functional impact of preeclampsia on ECFC. Objective/hypothesis In this study, we addressed the question whether vitamin D has vasoprotective effects by improving ECFC barrier function and adhesion molecule expression. Methods Using electrical impedance monitoring to test endothelial integrity, immunocytochemistry for characterization of protein localization and flow cytometry to determine protein expression as well as an in vitro chemotaxis assay, we investigated the effect of vitamin D on ECFC endothelial barrier and integrity under healthy and inflammatory conditions. Results Inflammation, simulated using TNF-alpha, enhanced the permeability of an ECFC monolayer (p Discussion Vitamin D is important for endothelial barrier integrity and antagonizes inflammatory effects, as observed in preeclampsia, by improving endothelial interconnection through adhesion proteins.