Changes with aging in human endothelial cell cytoskeleton

Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were cultured in the presence or absence of acidic fibroblast growth factor. As these cells reach senescence, changes occur in the morphology, organization and cellular distribution of the cytoskeletal components. This was most marked with a-actinin and vinculin. In early-passaged cells a-actinin was associated with the stress fibers with aperiodic appearance. In later-passaged cells a-actinin was found to be more diffuse in its distribution and with an apparent loss of periodicity. The organization of vinculin in early passaged cells was found to be concentrated at the ends of the stress fibers, whereas in later-passaged cells, it was associated at discrete regions of the membrane. The distribution of the cytoskeletal components in early-passaged cells, cultured in part in the absence of an acidic fibroblast growth factor, resemble later-passaged cells cultured in the presence of growth factor. The changes observed in the organization of vinculin in senescent cells and in early-passaged cells cultured in the absence of acidic fibroblast growth factors demonstrated that the acidic fibroblast growth factorpromotes cell adhesion andprevents, to agreaterextent, cell detachment. (The J Histotechnol12:3 13, 1989).