Effects of monocrotaline pyrrole on morphology, number and production of nitric oxide of cultured artery endothelial cells

Experimental model of pulmonary hypertension has been created by exposing animals to monocrotaline pyrrole (MCTP), but the cause of pulmonary hypertension induced by MCTP is still controversial. In this study, cell culture and DAF-2 fluorescence technique were used to investigate the effects of MCTP on Cell surface area, cell number and production of nitric oxide (NO) in cultured calf pulmonary artery endothelial cells (CPAE) and bovine aorta . endothelial cells (BAEC). MCTP induced the cell enlargement from (46 ± 4) to (223 ± 27) μm² and decreased the number of cells from (175 ± 9) × 10⁶ L^-1 to (49 ± 6) × 10⁶ L^-1 in CPAE. Acetylcholine induced production of NO, measured by DAF-2, was decreased significantly from (16.1 ± 1.3) % to (1.5 ± 1.1)% and from (14.2 ± 1.6)% to (1.4 ± 1.6) % in CPAE and BAEC, respectively. The results indicate that MCTP may damage endothelial cells and inhibit NO production, which maybe another pathogenesis of MCTP induced pulmonary hypertension.