Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of all-trans-retinoid(ATRA) on the migration of endothelial cells and the expression of gelatinases. Methods In vitro migration assay was used to determine the effect of ATRA on the endothelial cell migration induced by phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot were used to observe the effect of ATRA on the gelatinase expression at mRNA and protein levels respectively, while the proteolytic activities of gelatinases were assessed by zymography. Results The endothelial cell migration elicited by PMA was significantly inhibited when incubated with 0.1 μmol/L, 1.0 μmol/L and 10.0 μmol/L ATRA. Compared with the control, the inhibition rates were (44.68±7.79)%, (65.20±4.59)% and (78.37±2.58)%, respectively. ATRA also reduced the expression and activities of gelationases in a dose dependant manner. At 10 μmol/L concentration, the inhibition rate of mRNA expression, protein expression and protein activities for gelatinase A was (59.39±7.98)%, (78.40±3.23)% and (53.02±7.23)%, respectively. For gelatinase B it was (65.23±3.62)%, (82.49±2.88)% and (47.32±7.72)%, respectively. Conclusions The expression and activities of gelatinases are downregulated in the endothelial cells when incubated with ATRA, which may be the possible mechanism of ATRA inhibiting the endothelial cell migration elicited by PMA in vitro.

Key words: Tretinoin, Endothelium, Gelatinase A, Gelatinase B, Cell, cultured