Citations

Cells with endothelial phenotype generated from adult peripheral blood have emerging diagnostic and therapeutic potential. This study examined the lineage relationship between, and angiogenic function of, early endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and late outgrowth endothelial cells (OECs) in culture. Culture conditions were established to support the generation of both EPCs and OECs from the same starting population of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Utilizing differences in expression of the surface endotoxin receptor CD14, it was determined that the vast majority of EPCs arose from a CD14 + subpopulation of PBMCs but OECs developed exclusively from the CD14 − fraction. Human OECs, but not EPCs, expressed key regulatory proteins endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and caveolin-1. Moreover, OECs exhibited a markedly greater capacity for capillary morphogenesis in in vitro and in vivo matrigel models, tube formation by OECs being in part dependent on eNOS function. Collectively, these data indicate lineage and functional heterogeneity in the population of circulating cells capable of assuming an endothelial phenotype and provide rationale for the investigation of new cell-therapeutic approaches to ischemic cardiovascular disease.

The Ca2+ mobilizing peptide, bradykinin (BK), stimulates endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)-derived cellular nitric oxide (NO)production in association with altering the subcellular distribution of the enzyme. In the present study we examine the influence of cellular GTPases,particularly the large GTPase dynamin, on BK-mediated eNOS localization and cellular NO production. BK stimulation of ECV cells, which were stably transfected with eNOS-GFP (eNOS-GFP ECV304), increased NO production. This was associated with the mobilization of eNOS-GFP protein into Triton X-100-insoluble fractions of cell lysates, and an internalization of plasmalemmal eNOS-GFP in live and fixed ECV 304 cells. Incubation of digitonin-permeabilized ECV304 cells with the non-hydrolyzed GTP analog,GTP-γ-S, abrogated the BK-mediated internalization of eNOS-GFP as assessed by confocal microscopy. Conversely, inhibition of clathrin-dependent endocytosis, via overexpression of AP 180 or pretreatment of cells with chlorpromazine, did not influence BK-mediated eNOS redistribution. Furthermore, specific inhibition of dynamin-2 GTPase function by overexpression of a dominant negative construct, K44A, prevented the BK-mediated enrichment of eNOS-GFP within low buoyant density,caveolin-enriched fractions of eNOS-GFP ECV304 cell lysates. Dynamin-2 K44A overexpression also markedly impaired BK-dependent, L-NAME-inhibited NO production as did incubation of permeabilized cells with GTP-γ-s. These studies demonstrate that disruption of dynamin- and GTP-dependent, but clathrin-independent, vesicle trafficking pathways impairs BK-dependent cellular NO production, via inhibition of the internalization of eNOS-containing plasmalemmal vesicles.