Assessing the potential role of copper and cobalt in stimulating angiogenesis for tissue regeneration

PLoS One. 2021 Oct 27;16(10):e0259125. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259125. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The use of copper (Cu2+) and cobalt (Co2+) has been described to stimulate blood vessel formation, a key process for the success of tissue regeneration. However, understanding how different concentrations of these ions affect cellular response is important to design scaffolds for their delivery to better fine tune the angiogenic response. On the one hand, gene expression analysis and the assessment of tubular formation structures with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) revealed that high concentrations (10μM) of Cu2+ in early times and lower concentrations (0.1 and 1μM) at later times (day 7) enhanced angiogenic response. On the other hand, higher concentrations (25μM) of Co2+ during all time course increased the angiogenic gene expression and 0.5, 5 and 25μM enhanced the ability to form tubular structures. To further explore synergistic effects combining both ions, the non-toxic concentrations were used simultaneously, although results showed an increased cell toxicity and no improvement of angiogenic response. These results provide useful information for the design of Cu2+ or Co2+ delivery scaffolds in order to release the appropriate concentration during time course for blood vessel stimulation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Angiogenesis Inducing Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cobalt / pharmacology*
  • Copper / pharmacology*
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
  • Humans
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic / drug effects*

Substances

  • Angiogenesis Inducing Agents
  • Cobalt
  • Copper

Grants and funding

RAP was funded by the Government of Catalonia (2017 SGR 708), the Spanish Ministry (Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC2018-025977-I) and project RTI2018-096088-J-100 (MINECO/FEDER), and EBR, LDT, RRG predoctoral fellowship from Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.