Gene expression in human umbilical cord vein and artery endothelial cells under physiological chronic normoxia (3% O2, PCN) and standard culture normoxia (21% O2, SCN)

Endothelial cells, and many other types of cells too, physiologically reside in low O2 environments (~ 2-13% O2 or 15-60 mmHg pO2; [PCN]) relevantly to atmospheric O2 (~ 21% or 160 mmHg pO2 at sea level) in vivo. Such PCN is critical for endothelial functions. The majority of our current knowledge regarding the cellular and signaling mechanisms governing endothelial functions, however, is built on endothelial models established under atmospheric O2 (~21% O2). Herein, we comapred the transcriptional profiles between HUVE and HUAE cells cultured and expanded under PCN (3% oxygen) and standard culture normoxia (21% O2). We established human umbilical vein (HUVE) and artery (HUAE) endothelial cell cultures under PCN (3% O2; 20-25 days) and SCN (21% O2), and examined the global gene expression using Affymetrix U133 plus 2.0 microarray chips.