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A Model of Cardiac Remodeling Through Constriction of the Abdominal Aorta in Rats
Published on: December 2, 2016
Myocardial relaxin counteracts hypertrophy in hypertensive rats
Thomas Dschietzig1, Cornelia Bartsch, Till Kinkel
1Charité Berlin, Campus Mitte, Medizinische Klinik m. S. Kardiologie, Angiologie und Pulmologie, Schumannstrasse 20/21, 10117 Berlin, Germany. thomas.dschietzig@t-online.de
Abstract:
Current findings in male relaxin knockout mice indicate antifibrotic and positive lusitropic actions of relaxin on the myocardium. We investigated in 12-month-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and age-matched male Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) whether RLX shows antihypertrophic actions as well. SHR showed left heart hypertrophy and a selective elevation of left atrial and ventricular relaxin peptide which inversely correlated with the degree of hypertrophy. In adult rat cardiomyocytes, relaxin blunted phenylephrine-induced hypertrophy by inhibiting activated ERK-1/2 kinases. In conclusion, endogenous myocardial relaxin, upregulated in left heart hypertrophy, exerts antihypertrophic effects by inhibition of activated ERK-1/2 kinases.
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