Long-term inhibition of Rho-kinase ameliorates diastolic heart failure in hypertensive rats

Shigefumi Fukui, Yoshihiro Fukumoto, Jun Suzuki, Kenya Saji, Jun Nawata, Shunsuke Tawara, Tsuyoshi Shinozaki, Yutaka Kagaya, Hiroaki Shimokawa

研究成果: ジャーナルへの寄稿学術論文査読

54 被引用数 (Scopus)

抄録

Diastolic heart failure (DHF) is a major cardiovascular disorder with poor prognosis; however, its molecular mechanism still remains to be fully elucidated. We have previously demonstrated the important roles of Rho-kinase pathway in the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular fibrosis/hypertrophy and oxidative stress, but not examined in the development of heart failure. Therefore, we examined in this study whether Rho-kinase pathway is also involved in the pathogenesis of DHF in Dahl salt-sensitive rats, an established animal model of DHF. They were maintained with or without fasudil, a Rho-kinase inhibitor (30 or 100 mg/kg/day, PO) for 10 weeks. Untreated DHF group exhibited overt heart failure associated with diastolic dysfunction but with preserved systolic function, characterized by increased myocardial stiffness, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and enhanced cardiac fibrosis and superoxide production. Fasudil treatment significantly ameliorated those DHF-related myocardial changes. Western blot analysis showed that cardiac Rho-kinase activity was significantly increased in the untreated DHF group and was dose-dependently inhibited by fasudil. Importantly, there was a significant correlation between the extent of myocardial stiffness and that of cardiac Rho-kinase activity. These results indicate that Rho-kinase pathway plays an important role in the pathogenesis of DHF and thus could be an important therapeutic target for the disorder.

本文言語英語
ページ(範囲)317-326
ページ数10
ジャーナルJournal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology
51
3
DOI
出版ステータス出版済み - 03-2008
外部発表はい

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • 薬理学
  • 循環器および心血管医学

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