DIFFERENTIAL ABILITY OF CELLS TO PROMOTE OXIDATION OF LOW-DENSITY LIPOPROTEINS IN-VITRO

Atherosclerosis and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis share some comm on histological features and it is speculated that they result from si milar pathobiological mechanisms. There is strong evidence that oxidat ion of low density lipoprotein (LDL) may be an initiating event in ath erogenesis and that oxidised LDL may also be involved in the glomerulo sclerotic process. In vitro studies have demonstrated that cells prese nt in the arterial intima and kidney-derived cells promote LDL oxidati on. The aim of this study was to compare LDL oxidation by kidney-deriv ed human mesangial cells and proximal tubular cells, with human umbili cal vein endothelial cells and the human monocyte cell line THP-1. We used the thiobarbituric acid assay and agarose gel electrophoresis to measure the extent of LDL oxidation. Our results demonstrate that all of the cell types used had the ability to oxidise LDL significantly mo re than cell-free controls and that endothelial cells induced the high est degree of oxidative modification of LDL under our experimental con ditions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.