Regulation of the Growth and Migration of Vascular Wall Cells by Heparin

抄録

1) We studied the effect of heparin on the migration and proliferation of fetal bovine aortic EC and SMC in culture.
2) Heparin inhibited the proliferation of SMC and EC dose-dependently. Although Castellot et al. reported that the effect was specific for SMC, it was not specific for SMC in our study. It is not known how the difference between the results can be explained.
3) The inhibitory effect of heparin on SMC proliferation was neutralized partially by protamine sulfate.
4) Heparin specifically inhibited the migration of SMC dose-dependently, but not of EC.
5) Our results suggest that anti-atherogenecity of heparin might be due not only to the fully-understood anti-coagulatory and lipemia-clearing effect, but also to the inhibitory effect on the migration and proliferation of medial SMC.