Glucagon-like peptide-1 affects human umbilical vein endothelial cells in high glucose by the PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling pathway

Abstract

Abstract Objectives To investigate the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) for the apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in high glucose and the related mechanisms. Material and methods HUVECs were cultured under different conditions for 48 h. The apoptosis rate of cells was detected by flow cytometry, the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS was measured by Western blot, and the production of nitric oxide (NO) was detected by NO assay kit. Results HUVECs were incubated in high glucose, the apoptosis rate of cells increased, the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS reduced, and the production of NO decreased. After GLP-1 was added into the high glucose, the apoptosis rate of cells significantly reduced, the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS and the production of NO obviously increased. After exendin, wortmannine and L-NAME were added into high glucose and GLP-1, respectively, exendin, wortmannine and L-NAME increased the cell apoptosis, down-regulated the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS and dropped the production of NO, except that L-NAME made no difference on the expression of p-Akt. Conclusion GLP-1 increased the expression of Akt and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in HUVECs via the up-regulation of PI3K/Akt/eNOS pathway and decreased the apoptosis rate of HUVECs in high glucose.