Sodium ferulate modified gene expression profile of oxidized low‐density lipoproteins‐treated endothelial cells

Abstract

Oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox‐LDL) is shown to activate endothelial cells to induce inflammatory gene expressions. Sodium ferulate, an effective component extracted from Chinese medicines, is known to have a variety of beneficial pharmacological activities. In this study, we investigate the effects of sodium ferulate on gene expression profile of ox‐LDL‐treated endothelial cells. Cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells were serum starved for 24 hours, then treated with ox‐LDL (50µg/ml) in the absence or presence of sodium ferulate (5ìM). Sodium ferulate's effects o on gene expression profile and ox‐LDL induced cell death were assessed by using human oligonucleotide microarray gene expression chips and cell viability assay, respectively. Sodium ferulate significantly protected cells against the death induced by ox‐LDL. Meanwhile, a total of 32 genes, including members from families of chemokine, inflammatory factor, and growth factor, up‐regulated by ox‐LDL were significantly down‐regulated to the control level by sodium ferulate administration. These data provided an overview of the gene expression profile of endothelial cells in response to ox‐LDL and sodium ferulate, and demonstrated that sodium ferulate could regulate the expressions of inflammation‐related genes in endothelial cells to ameliorate endothelium function related with atherosclerosis that merit further study.