OBJECTIVETo observe the changes in the expressions of somatomedins in the prostate epithelial cells in anoxic condition.

METHODSWe cultured prostate epithelial cell line RWPE-1 in vitro. At 4, 8, 12, 24, 48 hours after seeding of the cells, we determined the gene and protein expressions of the epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the prostate epithelial cells by RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively.

RESULTSWith the increase of time, the expressions of the EGF, bFGF, TGF-beta, IGF-1 and VEGF genes were obviously up-regulated, more significantly in the anoxic than in the normoxic prostate epithelial cells. Take FGF mRNA, its expression level was 0.14 +/- 0.01 in the anoxic and 0. 12 +/- 0.01 in the normoxic prostate epithelial cells at 8 hours (P = 0.01), but increased to 0.29 +/- 0.01 and 0.14 +/- 0.01, respectively, at 48 hours (P < 0.001). The expression of the TGF-beta protein was also more significantly increased in the anoxic than in the normoxic prostate epithelial cells, 0.32 +/- 0.01 versus 0.26 +/- 0.01 at 4 hours (P = 0.017) and 1.56 +/- 0.13 versus 0.87 +/- 0.06 at 48 hours (P < 0.001). The other 4 somatomedins showed no significant differences in their protein expressions between anoxic and normoxic conditions.

CONCLUSIONAnoxia can up-regulate the gene expressions of somatomedins and increase the secretion of TGF-beta in prostate epithelial cells.