Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine whether lovastatin, HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitors, influences TGF-β–induced myofibroblast transdifferentiation in porcine lens epithelial cells (LECs).
Methods: :
Porcine LECs were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMED) for 24 hours. Cells were pretreated with or without lovastatin (10µM) for 18 hours and subsequently were stimulated with or without TGF-β(5ng/ml)for 24 hours. To evaluate the expression of α-SMA, α-SMA protein expression were studied by Western blot. Cell contractility was determined in collagen gel contraction assays.
Results: :
Lovastain inhibited TGF-β–inducedα-SMA expression. In the absence of lovastatin, TGF-β led to a significant increase protein expression after 24 hours of stimulation. Lovastatin strongly diminished the TGF-β–induced increase of α–SMA protein levels. Control gels cultured with DMEM alone contracted to 51.9±4.2% of their original area after 24 hours. TGF-βsignificantly increased this contraction (22.3±4.9% of initial gel size, p<0.0001, ANOVA). Lovastatin blocked the TGF-β-induced collagen gel contraction(38.6±5.6% of initial gel size, p<0.0001, ANOVA).
Conclusions: :
Lovastatin inhibits TGF-β–induced myofioblast transdifferentiation of cultured porcine LECs.
Keywords: cytoskeleton • cytokines/chemokines • enzymes/enzyme inhibitors