Objective: To study the effect of hypoxia on proliferation and differentiation of the pulmonary vascular pericytes (PC).
Methods: Cell culture, (3)H-thymidine incorporation ((3)H-TdR), immunocytochemistry and image analysis methods were used.
Results: It was found that the (3)H-thymidine incorporation, the expression amounts of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SM-Actin) in direct hypoxia (H) group was 2.16 times (P < 0.01), 1.16 times(P < 0.01) and 1.11 times (P < 0.05) that of normoxia (N) group, in hypoxic endothelial cell conditioned medium (HECCM) group was 1.8 times (P < 0.01), 1.15 times (P < 0.01) and 1.12 times (P < 0.05) that of normoxic endothelial cell conditioned medium (NECCM) group.
Conclusions: It was suggested that hypoxia can stimulate pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAEC) to secrete some growth factors to enhance PC proliferation and transformation of smooth muscle-like cells.