Endothelial cells (EC) are hypoxia-tolerant and their capacity to proliferate in low oxygen tension is essential to maintain vascular endothelium integrity. The present study addresses whether hypoxia alters the expression of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and IGF binding protein (IGFBP) genes in bovine aortic EC (BAEC) and bovine pulmonary artery EC (BPAEC). EC were cultured in normoxic (21%) conditions and exposed to 0% oxygen for 24, 48, or 72 h; some cells were reoxygenated by exposure to 21% oxygen for 24 or 48 h following hypoxia. IGF-I peptide and mRNA levels were very low in both cell types, and decreased further with exposure to hypoxia. Ligand blotting showed that both cell types synthesized 24 kDa (IGFBP-4), 30 kDa (IGFBP-5 and/or IGFBP-6), 43 kDa and 48 kDa IGFBPs (IGFBP-3 glycosylation variants). IGFBP-4 was the predominant IGFBP expressed by both cell types and did not change with exposure to hypoxia. Hypoxia caused a significant increase in IGFBP-3 secretion in BPAEC but not in BAEC. IGFBP-3 stable mRNA levels in BPAEC were increased correspondingly. IGFBP-5 was expressed only in BAEC and decreased with exposure to hypoxia. IGFBP-6 mRNA expression was low and increased in both cell types with exposure to hypoxia. These results demonstrate that EC IGFBP baseline expression as well as its expression in hypoxia vary in different vascular beds and suggest that the IGFBPs may be the dominant paracrine regulators of proliferation of EC as well as maintenance of endothelium integrity during hypoxia.

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