Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Restraint to Induce Stress in Mice and Rats
Published on: December 6, 2024
Mechanical stress enhances serotonin 2B receptor modulating brain natriuretic peptide through nuclear factor-kappaB
Yao-Jen Liang1, Ling-Ping Lai, Bao-Wei Wang
1Institute of Pharmacology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Objective:
Serotonin via serotonin 2B receptors (SR2BR) regulates cardiac embryonic development and adult heart functions. However, the role of SR2BR in the failing heart due to pressure overload is not well understood.
Methods:
Wistar rats of aortic banding and neonatal cardiomyocyte with mechanical stretch were used as cardiomyopathy models.
Results:
After two weeks of aortic banding surgery, serum serotonin, mRNA and protein expression of SR2BR increased significantly. The selective SR2BR antagonist, SB215505 (SB), significantly reduced the increase in heart weight, decreased heart wall thickness, left ventricular mass and the expression of the brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) but did not attenuate the up-regulation of SR2BR protein expression in rats after aortic banding for three weeks. After following in vitro mechanical stretch of cardiomyocytes and incubation with serotonin 1 muM, the level of SR2BR and BNP protein increased time-dependently. When transfected by specific siRNA of SR2BR or pretreated with caffeic acid phenethyl ester in cardiomyocytes, the increase of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) translocation and BNP protein induced by serotonin incubation plus mechanical stretch were both reversed.
Conclusions:
SR2BR expression is involved in pressure-induced cardiomyopathy and its downstream signaling may involve NF-kappaB to modulate BNP expression in cardiomyocyte.
Related Concept Videos
Psychoneuroimmunology: Cardiovascular Disease
A key area of focus in PNI is the relationship between stress and coronary...
Antihypertensive Drugs: Action of β1 Blockers
Heart Failure II: Pathophysiology
Physiological Foundation of Stress
Role of the Sympathetic Nervous System
Adrenaline triggers the...
Heart Failure Drugs: Inhibitors of Renin-Angiotensin System
Regulation of Heart Rates
The SNS increases heart rate through the release of norepinephrine and epinephrine, which act on beta-1 adrenergic receptors in the heart. This action increases the rate of depolarization in the sinoatrial (SA) node, the heart's...

