Regulation of PDGF-A: a possible mechanism for angiotensin II-induced vascular growth

This study was designed to determine the effects of angiotensin II infusion on structure of conduit and resistance arteries and to see if the effects correlate with changes in platelet-derived growth factor A chain (PDGF-A) gene and protein expression. Wistar rats were subcutaneously infused by osmotic minipump with either angiotensin II (ANG II) at 200 ng.kg-1.min-1 or physiological saline (control) for 14 days. Tail-cuff systolic blood pressure was significantly higher in ANG II compared with control rats beginning the second day of infusion and continuing to the end of 2 wk. Both aorta and external spermatic artery (first-order arteriole of the cremaster muscle) developed increased wall-to-lumen ratios in the ANG II rats, but this occurred by hypertrophy of the wall in the aorta and reduction of the lumen in the arteriole. Digoxigenin-labeled cRNA probes were used for in situ hybridization of vascular sections to identify PDGF-A mRNA. Gene expression of PDGF-A in ANG II rats was upregulated in the hypertrophied aorta and the nonhypertrophied arteriole. With the use of immunocytochemistry techniques, PDGF-A and proliferating cell nuclear antigen were increased in the aorta but not in the arterioles of ANG II rats compared with control rats. These results suggest that the difference in growth response between the aorta and the arteriole induced by ANG II may lie in posttranscriptional modification of PDGF-A mRNA, differential control of transition, or turnover of PDGF-A protein.