The investigation of tranilast on the proliferation and migration of human Tenon's capsule fibroblasts

Abstract

To investigate the effect of tranilast, N-(3,4-dimethoxycinnamoyl) anthramilic acid, on the proliferation and migration of human Tenon's capsule fibroblasts. fibroblasts were cultured from Tenon's tissue of a glaucoma patient after trabeculectomy. The subcultured cells were incubated with DMEM medium containing different concentrations of tranilast for 72 h. The growth of fibroblasts was measured by methyl thiazlyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and the cell count, and migration was evaluated by crutch method. The expression level of Protein kinase C (PKC) in fibroblasts was tested by immunohistochemical associated with image biological analysis (IBAS) methods. Treated with tranilast varying from 12.5 mg/L to 100.0 mg/L concentration, the proliferation of fibroblasts declined in a dose dependent manner. The migration of fibroblasts decreased from 40.20 +/- 5.83 to 22.50 +/- 4.21 and 9.80 +/- 2.14 cells/per field (P < 0.05) at 50.0 and 100.0 mg/L, respectively, and PKC expression was suppressed by tranilast from 0.2591 +/- 0.0038 to 0.2375 +/- 0.0106 and 0.1273 +/- 0.0573 Absorption value (P < 0.05) at 50.0 and 100.0 mg/L, respectively. Tranilast inhibited the proliferation as well as migration of fibroblasts in vitro, at least in part, by downregulation of PKC expression.