Migration of BAECs transfected with dominant-negative receptors.

BAECs were transfected either with a dominant-negative PDGF-Rα vector (DN-PDGF-Rα), with a dominant-negative PDGF-Rβ vector (DN-PDGF-Rβ, or with a PcDNA3 empty vector and were cotransfected with pEGFP-N1 reporter vector. A dominant-negative versus reporter-vector molar ratio of 4:1 was used. Under these conditions both plasmids were internalized in the same cell; when migrated cells were examined, only GFP-positive cells were counted. Neither the empty vector nor the dominant-negative vectors affected bFGF-induced migration. PDGF-BB inhibitory effect on bFGF-induced migration was present in the empty-vector–transfected cells and in the DN-PDGF-Rβ–transfected cells, whereas it was absent in DN-PDGF-Rα–transfected cells. In the latter, BAEC migration was increased in the presence of PDGF-BB and bFGF compared with bFGF alone. *Statistically significant difference (P < .01). Data are expressed as average ± SD of 4 experiments carried out in duplicate.