1. Volume 58, Issue 1, Pages 269-282 (July 2000)
Erythropoietin regulates vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis by a phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase-dependent pathway 
Tetsu Akimoto, Eiji Kusano, Toshiya Inaba, Osamu Iimura, Hideaki Takahashi, Hiromi Ikeda, Chiharu Ito, Yasuhiro Ando, Keiya Ozawa, Yasushi Asano 
Kidney International 
Volume 58, Issue 1, Pages (July 2000)
DOI: /j x
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

2. Figure 1
Dose-dependent induction of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis by interleukin-1β; (IL-1β;). Cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of IL-1β; for 48 hours. (A) Analysis of the rate of occurrence of apoptosis in VSMCs. The percentage of apoptotic nuclei was determined by the method described in the text. Data are means ± SE of at least four separate experiments. *P < 0.05 vs. control; **P < 0.01 vs. control; ††P < 0.01 vs. addition of L-NMMA or P < 0.01 vs. addition of L-NAME. (B) Analysis of the DNA fragmentation. Nucleic acid from sample was subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis. Lane 1, 100 base pair ladder; lane 2, control; lane 3, IL-1β; (5 ng/mL); lane 4, IL-1β; (7.5 ng/mL); lane 5, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL); lane 6, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL) + L-NMMA (3 mmol/L); lane 7, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL) + L-NAME (3 mmol/L). (C) Nuclear morphologic change in VSMCs (original magnification ×200). Cells were treated with IL-1β; (10 ng/mL) for 48 hours. Then cells were stained with H33258 as described in the text. The figure shown represents one of three independent experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

3. Figure 2
Dose-dependent induction of VSMC apoptosis by SNP. Cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of SNP for 24 hours. (A) Analysis of the rate of occurrence of apoptosis in VSMCs. The percentage of apoptotic nuclei was determined by the method in the text. Data are means ± SE of at least four separate experiments. *P < 0.05 vs. control; **P < 0.01 vs. control. (B) Analysis of the DNA fragmentation. Nucleic acid from sample was subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis. Lane 1, 100 base pair ladder; lane 2, control; lane 3, SNP (250 μmol/L); lane 4, SNP (500 μmol/L); lane 5, SNP (1000 μmol/L). (C) Nuclear morphological change in VSMCs (original magnification ×200). Cells were treated with SNP (1000 μmol/L) for 24 hours. Then cells were stained with H33258 as described in the text. The figure shown represents one of three independent experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

4. Figure 3
Dose- and time-dependent effect of rHuEPO on IL-1β; (10 ng/mL)-induced VSMC apoptosis. (A) Dose-dependent effect of rHuEPO. Cells were treated with increasing concentrations of rHuEPO in the presence of 10 ng/mL IL-1β; for 48 hours. *P < 0.05 vs. condition 2; **P < 0.01 vs. condition 2; ††P < 0.01 vs. condition 1. (B) Time-dependent effect of rHuEPO. Cells were exposed to 250 U/mL rHuEPO in the presence of 10 ng/mL IL-1β;, and the quantity of apoptotic nuclei was assessed at the indicated time. Symbols are: (▪) of 10 ng/mL IL-1β;; (▴, dotted line) of 10 ng/mL IL-1β; U/mL EPO; (•, double dashed line) control. **P < 0.01 vs. IL-1β; alone; ††P < 0.01 vs. control. Data are means ± SE of at least four separate experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

5. Figure 4
Dose- and time-dependent effects of rHuEPO on SNP (1000 μmol/L)-induced VSMC apoptosis. (A) Dose-dependent effect of rHuEPO. Cells were treated with increasing concentrations of rHuEPO in the presence of 1000 μmol/L SNP for 24 hours. **P < 0.01 vs. condition 2; ††P < 0.01 vs. condition 1. (B) Time-dependent effect of rHuEPO. Cells were exposed to 250 U/mL rHuEPO in the presence of 1000 μmol/L SNP, and the quantity of apoptotic nuclei was assessed at the indicated time. Symbols are: (▪) 1000 μmol/L SNP; (♦, dotted line) 1000 μmol/L SNP U/mL EPO; (•, dashed line) control. *P < 0.05 vs. SNP alone; **P < 0.01 vs. SNP alone; ††P < 0.01 vs. control. Data are means ± SE of at least four separate experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

6. Figure 5
Effect of protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitor, and anti-EpoR antibody on the countervailing effect of rHuEPO on IL-1β;– or SNP-induced VSMC apoptosis. (A) I. Calphostin C, genistein, or anti-EpoR antibody were added to the medium with rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for 48 hours in the presence of 10 ng/mL IL-1β;. II. Analysis of the DNA fragmentation. Nuclear acid from sample was subjected to agarose gel electrophoresis. Lane 1, 100 bp ladder; lane 2, control; lane 3, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL); lane 4, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL) + rHuEPO (250 U/mL); lane 5, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL) + rHuEPO (250 U/mL) + calphostin C (1 μmol/L); lane 6, IL-1β; (10 ng/mL) + rHuEPO (250 U/mL) + genistein (10 μmol/L). (B) I. Calphostin C, genistein, or anti-EpoR antibody was added to the medium with rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for 24 hours in the presence of 1000 μmol/L SNP. II. Analysis of the DNA fragmentation. Lane 1, 100 bp ladder; lane 2, control; lane 3, SNP (1000 μmol/L); lane 4, SNP (1000 μmol/L) + rHuEPO (250 U/mL); lane 5, SNP (1000 μmol/L) + rHuEPO (250 U/mL) + calphostin C (1 μmol/L); lane 6, SNP (1000 μmol/L) + rHuEPO (250 U/mL) + genistein (10 μmol/L). Data are means ± SE of at least four separate experiments. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

7. Figure 6
Cellular protein tyrosine phosphorylation including EpoR and JAK 2 induced by rHuEPO in VSMCs. Cells were exposed to rHuEPO in several conditions as described in this article. (A) Time course of cellular protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Cells were exposed to rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for the indicated periods. (B) Dose-dependent effect of cellular protein tyrosine phosphorylation induced by increased concentrations of rHuEPO. Cells were exposed to graded concentrations of rHuEPO for five minutes. Total cell lysates were blotted with horseradish peroxidase conjugated anti-Tyr(P) monoclonal antibody PY20 (A and B). (C) Tyrosine phosphorylation of EpoR. After cells were exposed to rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for five minutes, total cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation with either anti-EpoR (αEpoR), or anti-Tyr(P) monoclonal antibody 4G10 [αTry(P)4G10]. Immunoprecipitates were resolved by 10% SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted with either anti-EpoR (αEpoR) or anti-Tyr(P) monoclonal antibody PY20 [αTry(P)PY20]. (D) Tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK 2. After cells were exposed to rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for five minutes, total cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation with either anti-JAK 2 (αJAK 2), anti-JAK 1 (αJAK 1), or anti-Tyr(P) monoclonal antibody 4G10 [αTyr(P)4G10]. Immunoprecipitates were resolved by 10% SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted with either anti-JAK 2 (αJAK 2), anti-JAK 1 (αJAK 1), or anti-Tyr(P) monoclonal antibody PY20 [αTyr(P)PY20]. The figure shown represents one of three independent experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

8. Figure 7
Association of the p85 subunit of PI3-kinase with tyrosine-phosphorylated protein including EpoR in VSMCs. After VSMCs were deprived of fetal bovine serum for 24 hours, cells were exposed to rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for the indicated periods before solubilization. Equivalent amounts of cell lysate were immunoprecipitated with either anti-Tyr(P) antibody 4G10 (αTry(P)4G10), anti-EpoR antibody (αEpoR), or anti-p85 antibody (αp85) as indicated above the panels. Immunoprecipitates were resolved by 10% SDS-PAGE and immunoblotted with anti-EpoR antibody (αEpoR; A), anti-p85 antibody (αp85; B and C) or anti-Tyr(P) antibody PY20 [αTyr(P)PY20; D], as indicated on the left side of the panel. (D) The protein samples that included phosphotyrosine protein induced by rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for five minutes were used as a positive control. The figure shown represents one of three independent experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

9. Figure 8
Time- and dose-dependent effect of rHuEPO on phosphorylation of Akt. (A) After VSMCs were deprived of fetal bovine serum for 24 hours, cells were exposed to rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for the indicated periods. Then total cell lysates were immunoblotted with either antiphosphorylated (Ser-473) Akt antibody (upper) or anti-Akt antibody (lower). (B) After VSMCs were deprived of fetal bovine serum for 24 hours, cells were exposed to rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for five minutes in the presence or absence of wortmannin (0.1 μmol/L). Then total cell lysates were immunoblotted with either antiphosphorylated (Ser-473) Akt antibody (upper) or anti-Akt antibody (lower). The figure shown represents one of three independent experiments.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions

10. Figure 9
Effect of PI3-kinase inhibitor on the countervailing effect of rHuEPO on IL-1β; or SNP induced apoptosis. (A) Wortmannin (0.1 μmol/L) was added to the medium with rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for 48 hours in the presence of 10 ng/mL IL-1β;. (B) Wortmannin (0.1 nmol/L) was added to the medium with rHuEPO (250 U/mL) for 24 hours in the presence of 1000 μmol/L SNP. Data are means ± SE of at least four separate experiments. **P < 0.01.
Kidney International  , DOI: ( /j x)
Copyright © 2000 International Society of Nephrology Terms and Conditions