Description
LDL or Ox-LDL 200ug/ml, which showed no loss of viability after a 48 hour exposure, induced a physiological and pathological transcriptional response, respectively. LDL induced a downregulation of genes associated with cholesterol biosynthesis while ox-LDL induced transcriptional alterations in genes related to inflammation, matrix expansion, lipid metabolism and processing, and apoptosis. Pentraxin-3 was secreted into the culture medium after RPE cells were stimulated with ox-LDL, and immunohistochemically evident in Bruchs membrane of human macular samples with age-related macular degeneration. ARPE-19 cells exposed to 200?g/ml ox-LDL had a 38% apoptosis rate compared to less than 1% when exposed to LDL or untreated controls (p<0.0001).