Modulation of CD36 protein expression by AGEs and insulin in aortic VSMCs from diabetic and non-diabetic rats.

Background And Aim: In type 2 diabetes, the interplay between cells and inflammatory mediators up-regulates CD36 expression in macrophages. The aim of this work was to investigate advanced glycation end products (AGE)-induced CD36 expression and its regulation by insulin in aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from Goto-Kakisaki (GK) rats, a non-obese insulin model of both insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The context of overexpression of CD36 in aortas was also evaluated.

Regional Brazilian diet-induced pre-natal malnutrition in rats is correlated with the proliferation of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells.

Objectives: Pre-natal malnutrition induces hypertension and insulin resistance, pathologies commonly linked to atherosclerotic disease. The proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is important during development of the atherosclerotic plaque. In this work, we investigated whether the serum of pre-natal malnourished Wistar rats could alter the proliferation of aortic and renal artery SMCs in culture.

Insulin alters nuclear factor-lambdaB and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma protein expression induced by glycated bovine serum albumin in vascular smooth-muscle cells.

In both type 2 diabetes and insulin-resistance syndromes, hyperglycemia and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) activate the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) through a mechanism that partly involves the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The contribution of hyperinsulinemia in this sequence has not been completely elucidated. In this work we investigated the actions of insulin and PPAR-gamma on the stimulation by AGEs of NF-kappaB protein expression in cultured aortic vascular smooth-muscle cells (VSMCs) from non-insulin-dependent diabetic rats and nondiabetic rats.

Inhibition of choroidal angiogenesis by calcium dobesilate in normal Wistar and diabetic GK rats.

Calcium dobesilate reduces vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) over-expression in diabetic rat retina, but its effect on intraocular angiogenesis is unknown. Therefore, we tested calcium dobesilate for its in vitro and ex vivo effects on choroidal explant angiogenesis in spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats. Choroidal explants were cultured in gels of collagen.