Effect of Estrogen on Differentiation and Senescence in Endothelial Progenitor Cells Derived from Bone Marrow in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

The functional impairment associated with atherogenic factors, including hypertension, constitutes a limitation to the ability of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) to repair. In addition, estrogens have been shown to play a role in reendothelialization after vascular injury. We investigated the effects of estrogens on differentiation and senescence of EPCs derived from bone marrow (BM-EPCs) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR/Izm). Bone marrow (BM) cells were obtained from the tibias and femurs of age-matched, male SHR/Izm and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY/Izm). The number of differentiated, adherent BM-EPCs derived from SHR/Izm was significantly smaller than the number derived from WKY/Izm. 17β-Estradiol (E2) significantly increased the number of adherent BM-EPCs from SHR/Izm, and this effect was significantly attenuated by pharmacological phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) blockers. Immunoblotting analysis revealed that E2 treatment led to phosphorylation of Akt. Senescence, as assessed by acidic β-galactosidase staining, occurred at a significantly greater rate in the BM-EPCs from SHR/Izm than in those from WKY/Izm, but E2 treatment dramatically delayed the senescence of BM-EPCs from SHR/Izm. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-ELISA based assay revealed that telomerase activity in BM-EPCs from SHR/Izm was significantly lower than in those from WKY/Izm, but that E2 treatment significantly augmented it. Both MTS and colony forming unit assay revealed that E2 treatment significantly augmented the functional activity in BM-endothelial cell (EC)-like cells from SHR/Izm compared to that in control BM-EC-like cells (no treatment). In conclusion, the differentiation of BM-EPCs derived from SHR/Izm was significantly decreased compared with that of BM-EPCs from WKY/Izm. In addition, the rate of senescence was significantly greater in the BM-EPCs from SHR/Izm than in those from WKY/Izm. Estrogen was shown to augment differentiation and delay the onset of senescence in BM-EPCs from SHR/Izm.