Protective role of SIRT1-mediated Sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway in the preeclampsia rat models

To explore the role of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1)-mediated Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) pathway in reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) model of preeclampsia (PE) in rats.

The pregnant rats were divided into sham, RUPP, RUPP + rSIRT1 (recombinant SIRT1 protein), RUPP + rSHH (recombinant SHH protein), and RUPP + rSIRT1+ Cy (cyclopamine, an SHH pathway inhibitor) groups, followed by the determination of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pregnancy outcome. The gene or protein expression was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), or Western blotting.

RUPP rats showed increases MAP with the lower levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and nitrite and nitrate (NOx), as well as the higher levels of soluble FMS-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-6 in maternal plasma, which was attenuated after rSIRT1 or rSHH treatment. Besides, the improvement in the pregnancy outcome was seen in the rats from the RUPP + rSIRT1/rSHH groups as compared with the RUPP group. However, the therapeutic effect of rSIRT1 was reversed by cyclopamine. Placenta tissues of RUPP rats manifested the down-regulations of SIRT1, Patched-1 (PTCH1), and GLI family zinc finger 2 (GLI2), which were up-regulated in the RUPP + rSIRT1 group.

SIRT1 was down-regulated while SHH pathway was inhibited in the placental tissue of PE rats. SIRT1 improved the blood pressure, angiogenic imbalance, inflammation, and pregnancy outcome in PE rats via SHH pathway, supporting its potential use for the treatment of PE.