To investigate whether salinomycin (SAL) inhibits angiogenesis by inhibiting the proliferation, migration, and invasion of rat microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs).

Male Wistar rats (6-8 weeks old) were used in this study. Primary rat MVECs were cultured and cells at passage 3 were used for subsequent experiments. MVECs were stimulated with different concentrations of SAL in vitro. MTT method was used to detect the proliferation of MVECs. Scratch and Transwell assays were used to detect the migration and invasion of HVECs. Capillary lumen formation assay was used to verify the effect of SAL on the angiogenesis of MVECs. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS13. The t-test was used to analyze the difference between different groups. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

MTT assay showed that compared with the control group (0.968±0.038), SAL at a concentration of 1 μM (0.849±0.031) significantly inhibited cell proliferation (t=4.11, P=0.0367), and the inhibition was concentration-dependent. The results of scratch assay showed that compared with the control group [scratch distance, (249.78±6.72) μm], VEGF [(289.67±8.59) μm] significantly promoted scratch repair (t=4.76, P=0.0165), and SAL [(98.59±4.78) μm] significantly inhibited scratch repair (t=30.6, P=0.0007). The results of Transwell assay showed that compared with the radiotherapy group (128.67±4.89), VEGF (158.23±5.26) significantly promoted cell invasion (t=5.65, P=0.0089), and SAL (98.59±4.78) significantly inhibited cell invasion (t=25.65, P<0.001). Capillary lumen formation assay showed that compared with the control group (31.29±1.68), VEGF (45.76±2.56) significantly promoted angiogenesis (t=3.90, P=0.0176), and SAL (14.38±1.23) significantly inhibited angiogenesis (t=5.15, P=0.0046).

SAL can inhibit the angiogenesis of MVECs by inhibiting the proliferation, migration and invasion of rat MVECs.