Collagen is a survival factor against lipopolysaccharide-induced apoptosis in cultured sheep pulmonary artery endothelial cells. Hoyt, Dale G., Robert J. Mannix, James M. Rusnak, Bruce R. Pitt, and John S. Lazo. Department of Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
APStracts 2:0044L, 1995.
Hoyt, Dale G., Robert J. Mannix, James M. Rusnak, Bruce R. Pitt and John S. Lazo. Collagen is a Survival Factor Against Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Apoptosis in Cultured Sheep Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells. Am. J. Physiol. xxx (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. xx): Lxxx-Lxxx, 199x). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) causes direct pulmonary endothelial injury that can precipitate cell death. We investigated the ability of LPS to produce apoptosis in sheep pulmonary artery endothelial cells (SPAEC) grown in monolayer on plastic or collagen. When SPAEC were grown on plastic, LPS (100 ng/ml) caused internucleosomal DNA fragmentation (IDF) to 180-200 base pair ladders after 4 h. Higher order chromatin damage, producing 50 kilobase DNA fragments, occurred within 2 h. Significant DNA strand breaks were seen in attached cells within 1 h incubation with > 1 ng LPS/ml using in situ labelling by break extension (ISBE). DNA strand breakage in attached cells peaked after 2 h and remained elevated after 4 h. Detachment of SPAEC from the monolayer did not begin until 4 h. SPAEC cultured on collagen were protected from LPS -induced apoptosis; DNA damage measured by IDF, high molecular weight DNA fragmentation and ISBE were suppressed. The protective effect of collagen was not due to inactivation of LPS. Thus, LPS-induced apoptosis occurs in SPAEC after genotoxic damage and this process is suppressed by the extracellular matrix.

Received 13 December 1994; accepted in final form 23 March 1995.
APS Manuscript Number L353-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Lung Cell. Mol.
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on  4 April 1995.