High glucose enhance expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 in smooth muscle cells.

AIM: To investigate the effects of high glucose on expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in rat aortic smooth muscle cells and the influence of matrix remodeling on atherogenesis in diabetic patients. METHODS: The smooth muscle cells were cultured from the thoracic aorta of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat. MMP-2 mRNA was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), MMP-2 protein was measured by Western blotting, and MMP-2 activity in conditioned medium was observed by zymography. RESULTS: In comparison with the control, there was no difference in the expression of MMP-2 when glucose concentration was 1 g/L, whereas MMP-2 activity in smooth muscle cells was significantly increased by the glucose 5 g/L (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: High glucose enhanced the expression and activity of MMP-2 in smooth muscle cells, which may provide an explanation for the phenomenon that diabetes patients are prone to have atherosclerotic lesions.