Simvastatin inhibits apoptosis of endothelial cells induced by sepsis through upregulating the expression of Bcl-2 and downregulating Bax

摘要

BACKGROUND： Many studies have showed that apoptosis of endothelial cells plays a curialrole in the progress of sepsis. But the role of simvastatin in apoptosis of endothelial cells inducedby sepsis is not clear. The present study aimed to investigate the role of simvastatin in apoptosis ofendothelial cells induced by sepsis and its mechanism.METHODS： Human umbilical vein endothelial cells （HUVECs） were randomly divided into threegroups： control group, sepsis serum intervention group （sepsis group） and simvastatin＋sepsis serumintervention group （simvastatin group）. After 24-hour incubation with corresponding culture medium,the relative growth rate of HUVECS in different groups was detected by MTT assay; the apoptosis ofHUVECs was detected by Hoechst33258 assay and fl ow cytometry; and the expression of the Bcl-2and Bax genes of HUVECs was detected by PCR.RESULTS： Compared with the sepsis group, HUVECs in the simvastatin group had ahigher relative growth rate. Apoptotic HUVECs decreased significantly in the simvastatin group incomparison with the sepsis group. Expression of the Bcl-2 gene in HUVECs decreased obviously,but the expression of the Bax gene increased obviously after 24-hour incubation with sepsis serum;however, the expression of the Bcl-2 and Bax genes was just the opposite in the simvastatin group.CONCLUSIONS： Our study suggests that simvastatin can inhibit apoptosis of endothelial cellsinduced by sepsis through upregulating the expression of Bcl-2 and downregulating Bax. It may beone of the mechanisms for simvastatin to treat sepsis.