Enhancement of interleukin-6 expression in cocultured pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells in hypoxia

Objective To study the effect of hypoxia on the expression of interleukin 6 (IL 6) in cocultured pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC) Methods Rat PASMC were cocultured with rat lung microvascular endothelial cells, and randomly divided into 5 groups: normal group (N), 2 h hypoxia (H2), 6 h hypoxia (H6), 12 h hypoxia (H12), and 24 h hypoxia (H24) The expression level of IL 6 mRNA in PASMC was detected with RT PCR, and the activity of IL 6 in the supernatant with radioimmunoassay Results The expression level of IL 6 mRNA increased in PASMC in H2, reached the highest in H6, and decreased in H12, but still higher than that of N The changes of the IL 6 activity in the supernatant as well as IL 6 mRNA expression in the cells were in a time dependent manner Conclusion Hypoxia can enhance the expression of IL 6 in cocultured PASMC And it may activate others genes which regulate the hypoxic response of PASMC and signal transduction