Effects of Kv1.5 on proliferation and apoptosis of rat PASMCs under hypoxia+hypercapnia condition and relationship with MAPK pathway

AIM：To investigate the effects of voltage-dependent K＋ channel 1.5 (Kv1.5) on the proliferation and apoptosis of rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) under hypoxia+hypercapnia condition and the relationship with mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) signal pathway. METHODS：The PASMCs isolated from the male SD rat were cultured under hypoxia+hypercapnia condition, and randomly divided into normal group (N group), hypoxia+hypercapnia group (HH group), hypoxia+hypercapnia+DMSO incubation group (HD group), hypoxia+hypercapnia+U0126 (an extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 inhibitor) incubation group (HU group), hypoxia+hypercapnia+SB203580 (a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor) incubation group (HS group), and hypoxia+hypercapnia+anisomycin (an agonist of MAPK) incubation group (HA group). Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to detect the cell viability. The protein expression of Kv1.5, PCNA and Bax was detected by Western blotting. RESULTS：Compared with N group, the cell viability and PCNA protein expression in HH group and HD group were significantly raised (P<001), but Kv1.5 and Bax proteins were significantly decreased (P<0.01). No difference between HH group and HD group was observed (P>005). Compared with HD group, the cell viability and PCNA protein expression in HU group, HS group and HA group were decreased (P<0.05 or P<0.01), but Kv1.5 protein and Bax protein were raised (P<0.01), with the most significant changes in HA group. ^{CONCLUSION：}The regulation of Kv1.5 to the proliferation and apoptosis of PASMCs under hypoxia+hypercapnia condition might have a relationship with the activation of MAPK signal pathway.