Abstract
Oxidative modification of low‐density lipoproteins (LDL) is important in the etiology and pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Alterations of function and structure of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) mark the early stages of the development of atherogenesis. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used to investigate the role of angelica in human vascular ECs damage. HUVECs incubated with 0.1 mg/ml of ox‐LDL for 24 hours exhibited more pronounced morphological change, such as: cell shrinkage, disappearance of microvilli on EC surface, cellular membrane rupture, intercellular space enlargement, and significantly increased intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) expression. The effects of ox‐LDL on morphology and ICAM‐1 can be reversed by Angelica. The effect of Angelica on Cu2+‐catalyzed LDL oxidation was also studied and it was demonstrated that Angelica produced a concentration dependent inhibition of LDL oxidation as assessed by thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS). Our findings indicate that Angelica has protective effect against ox‐LDL induced damage on cultured HUVECs, an antioxidant effect on LDLs, and an inhibiting effect on ox‐LDL induced ICAM‐1 expression of endothelial cells. These findings further provided experiment proofs for the antiatherogenesis effect of Angelica.