Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major angiogenesis factor, characterizing by promoting cell division, proliferation, cytoplasm calcification and aggregation, as well as inducing angiogenesis; on the other hand, it also adjusts proliferation, differentiation, and functional activity of osteoblast and osteoclast.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of estrogen on VEGF expression in rat osteoblasts.
METHODS: Calvaria osteoblasts derived from 48-hour-old rats were cultured to obtain osteoblast. RT-PCR was employed to detect the VEGF mRNA expression following induction of 17β-estradiol at concentrations of 10^-10, 10^-8, 10^-6, and 10^-4 mol/L.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: RT-PCR demonstrated that VEGF mRNA was stably expressed in primary cultured osteoblast. Semi-quantitative analysis demonstrated that VEGF mRNA expression was in a certain law following 17β-estradiol induction at varying concentrations, i.e., with the increasing concentration of 17β-estradiol, VEGF mRNA expression was increased. At 10^-6 mol/L, the VEGF mRNA expression peaked, and when 17β-estradiol was over this dose, the expression was gradually decreased. This suggested that estrogen promoted VEGF mRNA expression, showing a dose-dependent manner.