Effect of Ethanol on Proliferation, Contraction and Migration of Rat Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Abstract

The effect of 24 h exposure to ethanol at concentrations of 50 and 100 mM on the proliferative, migration, and contractile activity of thoracic aortic smooth muscle cells of rats of three age groups was studied, the early neonatal period of development (1-week-old rats), puberty (5-month-old rats), and the initial period of aging (one-year-old rats). Real-time PCR was used to evaluate the proliferative activity of smooth muscle cells by comparing the relative amount of genomic DNA between control and experiment; wound healing assay was used to determine the migration activity of smooth muscle cells; and a method for assessing the degree of compression of collagen gel was used to determine the level of contractile activity of cells. Ethanol at a concentration of 50 mM did not change the studied properties of aortic smooth muscle cells of rats of all age groups. In the presence of ethanol at a concentration of 100 mM, the following effects were observed: an increase of ~38% (p < 0.01) in proliferative and a decrease of ~12% (p < 0.01) in contractile activity of smooth muscle cells of the aorta of rats of the early neonatal period, as well as a decrease in contractile activity (by ~7%, p < 0.01) and proliferative activity (by ~21%, p < 0.01) of cells of 5-month-old and one-year-old rats. It can be concluded that ethanol at a concentration of 100 mM has different effects on the studied rat cells depending on the age group of animals, and the smooth muscle cells of the aorta of rats in the early neonatal period of development are more sensitive to the effects of ethanol.