[Protection of artesunate on activation and injury of vascular endothelial cells induced by lipopolysaccharide].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects and mechanism of artesunate (AR) on the activation and injury of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). METHODS: After HUVECs were cultured and turned to fusion manner, LPS and different concentration of AR (0.04 mg/L, 0.2 mg/L, 1 mg/L, 5 mg/L and 20 mg/L) were added respectively and co-incubated for 24 hrs. The expression of von Willebrand factor (vWF) in the conditioned media was tested by ELISA, the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) protein was determined by Western blot method and the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) mRNA was determined by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: After being exposed to 1 microg/ml LPS, vWF and ICAM-1 expression were higher than those in the control group. AR could significantly down-regulate the increased expressions concentration-dependently, significant difference showed as the concentration of AR reached 1 mg/L (P < 0.05). In situ hybridization showed that AR in 0.2 mg/L and 1 mg/L could markedly down-regulate the TNFalpha mRNA expression, showing significant difference as compared with that in LPS group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: AR has protective effect on LPS induced HUVECs activation and injury, which might be related with its inhibition on TNFalpha mRNA expression.