Uremic levels of oxalic acid suppress replication and migration of human endothelial cells.

Angiogenesis, the formation of new capillaries, which is observed in embryonic and injured tissue and is particularly prominent in the vicinity of solid tumours, involves the migration and proliferation of capillary endothelial cells. It is probably triggered by agents, such as basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), thought to be released from tissues adjacent to proliferating capillaries. As well as being a potent inducer of cell division in capillary endothelial cells in vitro, bFGF can act as an angiogenic agent in vivo. It is present in a wide variety of richly vascularized tissues including brain, pituitary, retina, adrenal gland, kidney, corpus luteum, placenta and various tumours. So far, however, the normal bFGF-producing cell species in these tissues have not been identified. We report here that capillary endothelial cells express the bFGF gene, that they produce and release bFGF and that bFGF derived from them can stimulate the proliferation of capillary endothelial cells. We conclude that bFGF can act as a self-stimulating growth factor for capillary endothelial cells, and that it is possible that the formation of new capillaries is induced by capillary endothelial cells themselves.

Extracts of bovine hypothalamus were found to contain a significant level of mitogenic activity when tested in a Swiss 3T3 cell [3H]dThd incorporation assay and in a human umbilical vein endothelial cell growth assay. The mitogenic activity responsible for 3T3 cell activity was purified and characterized as a fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-like mitogen. Neither the biologically active FGF-like mitogen purified from the hypothalamus extracts nor FGF purified from bovine pituitary glands was mitogenic when added to human endothelial cells in vitro, suggesting the presence of more than one mitogen in the hypothalamic extracts. The 3T3 and endothelial cell biological activities of hypothalamic extracts were both found to be inactivated by trypsin, subtilisin, and heat treatment, but were stable to dialysis. The endothelial cell growth factor activity could be efficiently separated from the FGF activity by gel exclusion chromatography. The endothelial cell mitogen possessed a molecular weight of approximately 75,000, whereas that of FGF was approximately 15,000. The endothelial cell growth factor activity was found to be inactivated with reducing agents whereas the 3T3 cell mitogenic activity was stable after incubation with 2-mercaptoethanol. Significant levels of endothelial cell mitogenic activity were also found in extracts of bovine brain and pituitary glands.