Inhibition of collagen and non-collagen protein synthesis in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells by hyperlipoproteinemic serum.

The response of rabbit arterial tissue to prolonged extreme hyperlipoproteinemia is the development of a state of enhanced in vitro protein synthesis where severe atherosclerosis is present. In order to examine this stimulation, arterial cells were grown in cell culture and exposed to hyperlipemic serum as a part of the growth medium. Rather than observing an overall increase in protein synthesis as seen in atherosclerotic tissue, the cells exposed to hyperlipemic serum produced less collagen and non-collagen protein per cell than counterparts exposed to normolipemic homologous serum. We conclude that exposure to hyperlipemic serum for six days in vitro causes enhanced cellular proliferation, as seen by others, and a general perturbation of protein synthesis which may be related to cell population density.