Abstract
Objective:The objective of this study was to investigate histamine synthesis capability of human vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells by detecting histidine decarboxylase (HDC) mRNA.
Methods:HDC catalyzes exclusively the formation of histamine in mammalian cells. Experiments utilizing nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (nRT-PCR) were conducted to detect the presence of HDC mRNA. Human aortic smooth muscle cells (HAoSMC) and human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) were cultured and RNA was extracted and amplified using two sets of HDC-specific primers. Rat liver and kidney RNA were isolated and amplified to serve as positive and negative controls, respectively.
Results:Gel electrophoresis of HAoSMC, HAEC and liver mRNA revealed bands coinciding with an expected product size of 440 base pairs. Sequence analysis revealed that the observed bands were the appropriate HDC amplicons.
Conclusions:These findings are the first to indicate the presence of HDC mRNA in vascular smooth muscle cells and confirm the presence of HDC mRNA in endothelial cells which is consistent with an ability of these cell types to synthesize histamine in the vascular wall.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Received 4 November 2003; returned for revision 16 December 2003; accepted by M. J. Parnham 5 January 2004
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tippens, A.S., Gruetter, C.A. Titel. Inflamm. res. 53, 215–216 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00011-004-1252-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00011-004-1252-6