Inhibitory effects of aminophylline on proliferation of rat airway smooth muscle cells and expression of cª²fos in vitro

    ZHANG Caiª²Lian£¬ QU Shuanª²Min£¬ SU Mingª²Quan, LIU Yingª²Ge, ZHANG Binª²Fang£¬ LI Liª²Wen£¬QI Haoª²Wen

    1Department of Respiratory Medicine, 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, 4Institute of Orthopaedics, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¡¯an 710033, China, 2Weinan Drug Control Institute, Weinan 714000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To study the effects of aminophylline on the proliferation of rat airway smooth muscle cells and on the expression of cª²fos on rat airway smooth muscle cells. METHODS: Rat airway smooth muscle cells were isolated and cultured in DMEM containing 100 mL/L fetal bovine serum and passage 4-6 cells were used in the experiment. The cells were cultured with aminophylline of different concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mg/L) for 12-72 h. The cell proliferation was assessed by MTT, fluorescent microscopy was used to observe the morphological change and RTª²PCR was used to observe the cª²fos expression on airway smooth muscle cells. RESULTS: ¢Ù Aminophylline decreased the number of viable cells in a time and concentration dependent manner. ¢Ú Fluorescent microscopic examination showed nuclear contraction and chromation condensation when the concentration of aminophylline was higher than 50 mg/L. With the increase of aminophylline concentration, the apoptotic body formed in aminophylline groups. ¢Û There were cª²fos mRNA expressions in the control group and 50-200 mg/L aminophylline groups. With the increase of aminophylline concentration, the expression of cª²fos decreased. No expression was observed in 300 and 400 mg/L aminophylline groups. CONCLUSION: The inhibition of the airway smooth muscle cell proliferation by aminophylline may probably be due to its inhibitory effects on the expression of cª²fos. ......