Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 Couples Cyclo-Oxygenase-2 with Pro-Angiogenic Actions of Leptin on Human Endothelial Cells
Figure 1
Leptin increases COX-2 expression in HUVEC in a p38MAPK-dependent manner.
Cells were exposed to vehicle alone, leptin (100 ng/mL) or VEGF (25 ng/mL) for 6 hours (A) or 10 mins (B). Lysates were analysed by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting with COX-2 or COX-1 antibodies (A) and for p38MAPK activation using an anti-phospho(p)-p38MAPK antibody (B). Immunoblots in A are each representative of 15 separate experiments on cells from 15 umbilical veins. Data from densitometric analyses of COX-2 expression are given as mean ± SEM (n = 15). *** p<0.001 versus control. B. Densitometric analyses of p-p38MAPK expression from 5 experiments (mean ± SEM. * p<0.05 versus controls). C. HUVEC were pre-treated for 30 minutes with SB202190 (1 µmol/L) and then exposed to vehicle, leptin or thrombin (1 U/mL) in the continued absence or presence of SB202190 for 6 hours. Analysis of immunoblots from 3 experiments is shown (mean ± SEM: * p<0.05; ***p<0.001 versus controls; # p<0.05 versus leptin; § p<0.05 versus thrombin).