Relaxin Reverses Cardiac and Renal Fibrosis in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

The antifibrotic effects of the peptide hormone relaxin on cardiac and renal fibrosis were studied in 9- to 10-month-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Rats (n=8 to 9 per group) were allocated into 3 groupsWKY controls, vehicle-treated SHR (SHR-V...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. 1979) Tex. 1979), 2005-08, Vol.46 (2), p.412-418
Main Authors: Lekgabe, Edna D, Kiriazis, Helen, Zhao, Chongxin, Xu, Qi, Moore, Xiao Lei, Su, Yidan, Bathgate, Ross A.D, Du, Xiao-Jun, Samuel, Chrishan S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension
Atrial Natriuretic Factor - metabolism
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers - metabolism
Blood and lymphatic vessels
Cardiology. Vascular system
Cardiomegaly - metabolism
Clinical manifestations. Epidemiology. Investigative techniques. Etiology
Collagen - metabolism
Experimental diseases
Fibroblasts
Fibrosis
Heart - physiopathology
Humans
Hypertension - metabolism
Hypertension - pathology
Hypertension - physiopathology
Kidney - pathology
Male
Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 - metabolism
Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 - metabolism
Medical sciences
Myocardium - metabolism
Myocardium - pathology
Rats
Rats, Inbred SHR
Rats, Inbred WKY
Recombinant Proteins - pharmacology
Relaxin - pharmacology
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Summary:The antifibrotic effects of the peptide hormone relaxin on cardiac and renal fibrosis were studied in 9- to 10-month-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). Rats (n=8 to 9 per group) were allocated into 3 groupsWKY controls, vehicle-treated SHR (SHR-V), and relaxin-treated SHR (SHR-R). Relaxin (0.5 mg/kg per day) was administered via subcutaneously implanted osmotic mini-pumps over 2 weeks before hearts and kidneys were harvested for analysis. Collagen content was analyzed by hydroxyproline assay, gel electrophoresis, and quantitative histology. Zymography was used to determine matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression and Western blotting to determine proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)/myofibroblast expression, whereas cardiac hypertrophy was assessed by myocyte size and real-time polymerase chain reaction of associated genes. The left ventricular (LV) myocardium of SHR-V contained increased collagen levels (by 25±1%, P
ISSN:0194-911X
1524-4563
DOI:10.1161/01.HYP.0000171930.00697.2f