Effect of Pioglitazone on Cell Cycle of Rat Cardiac Fibroblasts

【Objective】To evaluate the effect of insulin-sensitizer pioglitazone on the cell cycle of cardiac fibroblasts(CFs) isolated from Wistar rat and its relationship with activity of NOS-NO(nitric oxygen syntheses-nitric oxygen) system.【Methods】Isolated and cultured CFs were used as experiment model.Cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry(FCM).Nitrate enzyme reverting method was also adopted to evaluate NO content,and NOS activity was estimated by spectrophotometer.【Results】①Based on the analysis of FCM cell cycle,it was shown that the percentage of cells on S and PI stage in CFs were gradually declined as pioglitazone concentration increased,while the percentage of cells on G0/G1 stage raised(P0.01).② NO concentration in supernatant(221.7±35.3μmol/L) treated by 5μmol/L pioglitazone for 48 hours,was significantly higher than that of control group(112.1±8.9μmol/L,P0.01).NOS activity in supernatant(256.7±30.1nkat/mL) treated by 5μmol/L pioglitazone for 48 hours,was also significantly higher than that of control group(186.7±8.3nkat/mL,P0.01).③There was significant positive relevance between NO contents and NOS activity(r=0.964,P0.01).【Conclusion】Insulin-sensitizer hydrochloride pioglitazone can inhibit the cell cycle proliferation of CFs in vitro,which maybe correlates with up-regulation of NOS-NO system.