Abstract:

Objective To observe the effects of anti-Smad3 adenovirus vector transfection on proliferation of proliferative vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Methods Rat models of acute balloon injury of common carotid artery  were established. The injured vascular tissues were obtained, proliferative VSMCs were cultivated by tissue explants adherent method, and anti-Smad3 adenovirus vector transfection was performed (experiment group). Virus without anti-Smad was served as negative control, and that without adenovirus vector was served as blank control. Total RNA of transfected cells was extracted, and the expression of Smad3 mRNA after transfection in each group was detected by RT-PCR. The changes in cell proliferation after transfection was determined by MTT. Results The expression of Smad3 mRNA in experiment group was significantly lower than that in negative control group and blank control group. Cell proliferation of experiment group was significantly decreased on day 2, 3 and 5 after transfection (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in cell proliferation among each group on day 7 after transfection（P>0.05）. Conclusion Anti-Smad3 adenovirus vector transfection may inhibit the proliferation of proliferative VSMCs, which lays a foundation for the signal transduction interruption of TGF-β₁ by gene modification in the prevention of proliferative vascular diseases.

Key words: transforming growth factor-β₁, anti-Smad3, adenovirus, vascular smooth muscle cell, proliferation