Summary
Secretion of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) by cultures of human umbilical
vein endothelial cells and human hepatocellular cell line Hep G2 was evaluated after
insulin stimulation. The secretion of PAI-1 antigen and activity was measured in the
conditioned medium and the cellular extracts after incubation of confluent cultures
with 1% serum medium for 24 hours.
Insulin induced a dose dependent increase of the PAI-1 secretion by Hep G2 cell line.
At 10-8 M a two fold increase of PAI-1 antigen and activity were observed whereas a2 antiplasmin
and fibrinogen were not significantly modified. No effect of insulin was observed
on PAI-1 antigen and PAI activity production by human endothelial cells whereas endotoxin
resulted in a two fold increase in PAI-1 secretion. In recent clinical studies we
have demonstrated that the level of plasma insulin correlated with that of PAI-1.
Thus we hypothesize that hepatocytes represent a physiological source of plasma PAI-1
which is modulated by plasma insulin level.
Keywords
Insulin - PAI-1 - Hepatocyte - Endothelial cell