Objective      To study the effect of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) in mice vascular calcification. Methods      Conditional deletion of PTEN in mice (PTEN

△/△

) was generated by crossing PTEN exon 5 floxed mice (PTENf

/f

) with the SM22α-Cre

+/-

transgenic mice. PTEN expression was detected by immunohistochemical staining in apolipoprotein E (ApoE

-/-

) mice fed by high fat diet (HFD) or chow diet (CD). Aortic rings excised from 4-week-old PTEN

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mice were cultured in calcified media. After 3 weeks ex

vivo culture

arterial calcification was determined by Alizarin Red staining and Von Kossa staining in PTEN

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and control PTENf/f mice. The expression of runt related transcription factor 2 (Runx2)

osteocalcin and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) were detected by real-time PCR in both mice groups. Results      Compared to CD fed group

HFD induced vascular calcification in ApoE-/- mice while PTEN expression was significantly decreased in the calcified arteries (P0.01). Immunostaining demonstrated obvious vascular calcification in PTEN

△/△

mice after ex vivo stimulated culture

which was not evident in PTENf/f mice under the same condition. Furthermore

elevated mRNA expression of Runx2

osteocalcin and BMP2 was detected in PTEN

△/△

mice compared with PTENf/f mice by PCR analysis(P0.05). Conclusion     Muscle-specific deletion of PTEN promotes vascular calcification in mice.