Figure 4

Effects of AGE-aptamer on HUVEC and G361 cell proliferation. (a) HUVEC were treated with 100 μg/ml AGE-BSA or non-glycated BSA for 24 h in the presence or absence of 2 μM AGE-aptamer, 2 μM Control-aptamer or 5 μg/ml RAGE-Ab. (b) Assay medium was incubated with 100 μg/ml non-glycated BSA or AGE-BSA in the presence or absence of 2 μM AGE-aptamer or Control-aptamer at 37 °C for 2 h. Then HUVEC were seeded on Matrigel-coated wells and incubated in the pretreated assay medium. After 3 h, nine microscopic fields selected at random were photographed, and the lengths of tube-like structures were measured with a microcomputer-assisted ImageJ. (c) G361 cells were treated with 1000 μg/ml AGE-BSA or non-glycated BSA for 24 h in the presence or absence of 2 μM AGE-aptamer or Control-aptamer. Cell proliferation levels were measured with an electron coupling reagent WST-1-based colorimetric assay. Single (*) and double asterisks (**) indicate P<0.05 and P<0.01 compared with the value of AGE alone, respectively. (a) N=18–36 per group. (b) Three microscopic fields selected at random from each well (N=3 per group) were photographed. (c) N=5 per group.