Aberrant Phenotype in Human Endothelial Cells of Diabetic Origin: Implications for Saphenous Vein Graft Failure?

Figure 5

Effect of “diabetic” stimuli on SV-EC function. (a) ND-EC were treated with 25 mM glucose (with mannitol as osmolarity control) for 24 h before performing angiogenesis assays and counting the number of intact tubes (). (b) Similarly treated cells were fixed and the F-actin cytoskeleton visualised using rhodamine phalloidin. Scale bars = 50 μm. (c) Parallel assays were performed on cells treated with 1 ng/mL TNF-α as an inflammatory stimulus ((c, d), , ) and 100 μM palmitate to mimic an elevation in free fatty acids ((e, f), , ).

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