In order to investigate the expression of CD40 in endothelial cells (ECs) in a variety of injured conditions and the interventional role of Andrographitis Paniculata isolate (API0134), the tho- racic aorta ECs of guinea pigs were cultured in vitro until the third passage, incubated in the presence of media containing xanthine oxidase (XO) and xanthine (Xan) which produced oxygen free radical (OFR group); oxidized-LDL (ox-LDL group); XO, Xan and API0134 (OFR+API0134 group); or ox-LDL and API0134 (ox-LDL+API0134 group). The expression of CD40 in ECs was detected by im- munofluorescence assay and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). The results showed as compared with the control group, the expression of CD40 in ECs in OFR group and ox-LDL group was in- creased (P<0.01), but attenuated significantly in OFR+ API0134 group and ox-LDL+API0134 group (P<0.05). It was suggested that API0134 could protect atherosclerosis by inhibiting the expression of CD40 molecule in injured ECs.
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