Effects of Advanced Glycation End Products and Rosiglitazone on Calcification in Rat Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Objective To investigate the effects of advanced glycation end products(AGEs)and rosiglitazone on calcification in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs).Methods VSMCs were incubated with 200 mg·L-1 AGE-BSA or 200 mg·L-1 non-glycated BSA with or without 10-7~10-5 mol·L-1 rosiglitazone in DMEM containing 10 mmol·L-1β-glycerophosphate.Calcium deposition,the activity of alkaline phosphatase(ALP),the mRNA and protein of osteopontin were used to identify osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization in VSMCs induced by AGE-BSA.Results Treatment of VSMCs with 200 mg·L-1 AGE-BSA for 10 days caused a significant increase of calcium deposition and ALP activity as compared with the control value with non-glycated BSA.AGE-BSA also increased the gene and the protein of osteopontin by 116.71% and 1.7-fold,respectively.Compared with AGE-BSA treatment alone,addition of rosiglitazone decreased calcium deposition and alkaline phosphatase activity in VSMCs induced by AGE-BSA at 10 days,and downregulated the expression of OPN in both mRNA and protein in VSMCs induced by AGE-BSA.Conclusion AGEs enhances in vitro vascular calcification by promoting osteoblastic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells and rosiglitazone has the potential of inhibiting calcification induced by AGE-BSA.