Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists reduce cell proliferation and viability and increase apoptosis in SSc fibroblasts
British Journal of Dermatology, 08/09/2012
Antonelli A et al. – The effects of rosiglitazone or pioglitazone showed on systemic sclerosis fibroblasts raise the hypothesis of a therapeutic role for proliferator–activated receptor γ agonists in patients affected by systemic sclerosis.
Methods- The effects of two pure PPARγ agonists (rosiglitazone and pioglitazone) in cultured SSc fibroblasts were evaluated and compared to normal fibroblasts.
- The study included the evaluation of the cell viability and proliferation (based on the cleavage of tetrazolium salts and on the measurement of the absorbance of the cell proliferation reagent WST-1), and the cell apoptosis (by means of the Hoechst dye uptake).
- Rosiglitazone or pioglitazone (20 μM) significantly reduced cell proliferation (cell counting of 75% and 83% compared to baseline, respectively, after 2 h) and cell viability (absorbance reductions of 25% and 22% compared to baseline, respectively, after 2 h), and increased apoptosis (apoptotic cell percentages 9.9% and 8.6%, respectively, after 48 h of incubation) in SSc fibroblasts, whereas they did not present a significant influence on control fibroblasts.
