Fig. 1.
Proliferation and migration of mouse cardiac endothelial cells (MCECs) are inhibited when co-cultured with cardiomyocytes isolated from GK rats, whereas they are promoted when co-cultured with Wistar (WT) rat cardiomyocytes. (A) A scheme of cell co-culture system in which cardiomyocytes were cultured in the lower chamber of a 12-well plate pre-coated with mouse laminin (10 μg/ml) and MCECs were cultured in the upper chamber of a 12-well insert. (B) GK myocytes inhibited MCEC proliferation, which was promoted by WT myocytes. (C) A scheme of the transwell experiment to evaluate endothelial cell migration. Representative endothelial cells which were trans-welled when co-cultured with WT-cardiomyocytes or GK cardiomyocytes. The quantitative results of endothelial cells migrated are shown in (D). (E/F) Cardiomyocyte-mediated regulatory effects on EC migration were negated upon addition of GW4869. n = 4 wells for each group, and similar results were observed in three additional, independent experiments; *p < 0.05 vs. no cardiomyocyes (CMs).