Endothelial cells and basement membrane : a co-regulatory unit for fibroblast growth factor-2 in hyperglycemic stress

Endothelial cells and basement membrane interact as a biochemical and mechanical co-regulatory unit. The wide spectrum of manifestations of diabetic vascular disease could be related to altered kinetics of vasoactive compounds within this regulatory unit. We hypothesized that hyperglycemic stress mediates storage, release, and function of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) through changes in interaction between endothelial cells and basement membrane. We discovered that basement membrane associated FGF-2 increased linearly with culture glucose concentration. Using novel assays, we demonstrated that FGF-2 binding kinetics were surprisingly unchanged over a range of basement membrane culture glucose. Instead, the combination of increased endothelial cell apoptosis-associated FGF-2 release and enhanced endothelial cell permeability allowed more FGF-2 to bind into the basement membrane. Such high levels of basement membrane FGF-2 abrogated the effects of hyperglycemia on proliferation but not apoptosis. An FGF-2 stimulus returned endothelial cell proliferation close to euglycemic levels, but increased apoptosis was still evident as FGF-2 signaling down an intracellular survival pathway was inhibited by glucose.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Morss, Alisa Sharon

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Elazer R. Edelman.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36167

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36167