8-Aminoguanine and its actions in the metabolic syndrome

The metabolic syndrome is characterized by obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension and predisposes to cardiorenal injury. Here, we tested our hypothesis that 8-aminoguanine, an endogenous purine, exerts beneficial effects in Zucker Diabetic-Sprague Dawley (ZDSD) rats, a preclinical model of the metabolic syndrome. ZDSD rats were instrumented for blood pressure radiotelemetry and randomized to vehicle or 8-aminoguanine (10 mg/kg/day, po). The protocol was divided into four phases: Phase 1: 17 days of tap water/normal diet; Phase 2: 30 days of 1% saline/normal diet; Phase 3: 28 days of 1% saline/diabetogenic diet; Phase 4: acute/terminal measurements. 8-Aminoguanine: (1) decreased mean arterial blood pressure (P = 0.0004; 119.5 ± 1.0 (vehicle) versus 116.3 ± 1.0 (treated) mmHg) throughout all three phases of the radiotelemetry study; (2) rebalanced the purine metabolome away from hypoxanthine (pro-inflammatory) and towards inosine (anti-inflammatory); (3) reduced by 71% circulating IL-1β, a cytokine that contributes to hypertension-induced adverse cardiovascular events and type 2 diabetes; (4) attenuated renovascular responses to angiotensin II; (5) improved cardiac and renal histopathology; (6) attenuated diet-induced polydipsia/polyuria; and (7) reduced HbA1c. In the metabolic syndrome, 8-aminoguanine lowers blood pressure, improves diabetes and reduces organ damage, likely by rebalancing the purine metabolome leading to reductions in injurious cytokines such as IL-1β.