细胞核CaMK和Calcineurin 对大鼠心肌肥厚发生的作用

目的:研究大鼠心肌肥厚时,钙依赖的蛋白激酶和蛋白磷酸酶在心肌细胞膜、细胞浆和细胞核的分布规律,以探讨核钙信号与核反应在心肌肥厚发生过程中的病理生理意义.方法:制备腹主动脉缩窄大鼠心肌肥厚模型,同位素32P掺入法分别测定心肌细胞核、细胞浆和细胞膜的蛋白激酶活性及用无机磷生成显色法测定其蛋白磷酸酶活性.结果:腹主动脉缩窄术后4周大鼠心肌显著肥厚,伴有明显的血液动力学异常.与正常对照组相比较,腹主动脉缩窄心肌肥厚组心肌细胞核钙调素蛋白激酶(CaMK)活性增加101.1%(P＜0.01),其膜的酶活性升高40.2%(P＜0.01),而胞浆的酶活性不变(P＞0.05);心肌细胞核钙调神经磷酸酶(Calcineurin)活性增加43.6%(P＜0.05),膜和胞浆中其活性增加无显著性(P＞0.05).正常组和腹主动脉缩窄心肌肥厚组心肌细胞CaMK和Calcineurin活性分布为核＞膜＞胞浆(P＜0.01).结论:腹主动脉缩窄心肌肥厚时核内钙依赖的CaMK和Calcineurin活性增加,提示压力超负荷时细胞核内钙调节的蛋白磷酸化和去磷酸化水平增高,可能在介导心肌肥厚的发生中起重要作用.     

Angiotensin II receptor binding in the locus ceruleus of spontaneously hypertensive rats and Wistar-Kyoto rats: A quantitative autoradiographic study with references to hypertension and cardiac/testicular hypertrophy

The locus ceruleus (LC) contains a high density of angiotensin II (All) receptors. The role of All receptors at the LC in genetic hypertension and organ function is unclear. Spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were studied, and blood pressure of animals was measured using the tail-cuff method. Animals were decapitated and the heart weight (HW) and testicular weight (TW) of animals measured. All receptor binding was carried out by incubating the LC tissue sections with 200 pM [¹²⁵I]-All receptor ligand, and measured using quantitative autoradiography. Results showed that the HW/BW ratio was significantly higher in SHR rats than WKY rats. However, the TW/BW ratio was higher in SHR rats than WKY rats only at two hypertensive stages, whereas All receptor binding capacity in the LC was also statistically higher in SHR rats than WKY rats. Results indicated that cardiac and testicular hypertrophies were related to higher All receptor binding in the LC of SHR rats, when compared with WKY rats. Interestingly, the literature shows that there is an LC-testes axis. In conclusion, this study indicated that All receptors in the LC are associated with genetic hypertension, and testicular weight could be a reasonable index for essential hypertension.     

高血压大鼠心肌肥大及逆转过程中相关因素的探讨

目的：探讨在心肌肥大及逆转过程中收缩压(SBP)、舒张压(DBP)、平均动脉压(MAP)、神经肽Y(NPY)等与左心室肥大的关系。方法：血压和心率用生物信号分析系统记录;NPY用放射免疫法测定,用SPSS软件求出了相关系数和回归方程。结果：SBP、DBP、MAP、心肌匀浆中NPY与心系数(LVW／BW)呈正相关,血液中NPY和心率(HR)与心系数不相关。结论：血压升高是导致左室肥大的因素之一,收缩压的影响大于舒张压;SBP、DBP、MAP、心肌匀浆中NPY与心系数(LVW/BW)有相关的趋势。     

Dlx5 is a positive regulator of chondrocyte differentiation during endochondral ossification

The process of endochondral ossification in which the bones of the limb are formed after generation of cartilage models is dependent on a precisely regulated program of chondrocyte maturation. Here, we show that the homeobox-containing gene Dlx5 is expressed at the onset of chondrocyte maturation during the conversion of immature proliferating chondrocytes into postmitotic hypertrophying chondrocytes, a critical step in the maturation process. Moreover, retroviral misexpression of Dlx5 during differentiation of the skeletal elements of the chick limb in vivo results in the formation of severely shortened skeletal elements that contain excessive numbers of hypertrophying chondrocytes which extend into ectopic regions, including sites normally occupied by immature chondrocytes. The expansion in the extent of hypertrophic maturation detectable histologically is accompanied by expanded and upregulated domains of expression of molecular markers of chondrocyte maturation, particularly type X collagen and osteopontin, and by expansion of mineralized cartilage matrix, which is characteristic of terminal hypertrophic differentiation. Furthermore, Dlx5 misexpression markedly reduces chondrocyte proliferation concomitant with promoting hypertrophic maturation. Taken together, these results indicate that Dlx5 is a positive regulator of chondrocyte maturation and suggest that it regulates the process at least in part by promoting conversion of immature proliferating chondrocytes into hypertrophying chondrocytes. Retroviral misexpression of Dlx5 also enhances formation of periosteal bone, which is derived from the Dlx5-expressing perichondrium that surrounds the diaphyses of the cartilage models. This suggests that Dlx5 may be involved in regulating osteoblast differentiation, as well as chondrocyte maturation, during endochondral ossification.     

A novel cell-based system for evaluating skeletal muscle cell hypertrophy-inducing agents

Skeletal muscle is a tissue that adapts to increased use by increasing contractile protein gene expression and ultimately skeletal muscle mass (hypertrophy). To identify hypertrophy-inducing agents that may be potentially useful in the treatment of age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) and to better understand hypertrophy signal transduction pathways, we have created a skeletal muscle cell-based hypertrophy-responsive system. This system was created by permanently modifying the relatively undifferentiated C2C12 cell line so that it contains the beta-myosin heavy chain (beta-MHC) gene promoter and enhancer regions fused to a luciferase reporter gene. This cell line responds, by increasing luciferase expression, to a variety of skeletal muscle hypertrophy-inducing agents, including insulin, insulin-like growth factor I, testosterone, and the beta-adrenergic receptor agonist isoproterenol, in both the undifferentiated and differentiated states. This cell-based system should be useful for identifying novel hypertrophy-inducing agents as well as understanding hypertrophy signal transduction.     

Increased insulin-like growth factor-I gene expression precedes left ventricular cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in a rapidly-hypertrophying rat model system

Chronic pressure overload leads to an increase in the size, i.e. hypertrophy, of cardiomyocytes in the heart. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this hypertrophy are not understood. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) synthesized locally in the heart is known to be associated with the hypertrophic process. So far, however, cardiac IGF-I gene expression in the widely used rat model system has only been shown to be increased when the hypertrophy induced by pressure-overload was already established. Therefore, the question of whether IGF-I serves as an initiating or early-enhancing factor for the cardiac hypertrophy remains unanswered. Here, cardiac hypertension and hypertrophy were rapidly induced in the rat by complete constriction of the abdominal aorta between the origins of the renal arteries. Carotid arterial systolic blood pressure remained unchanged in sham rats but increased rapidly in the pressure-overloaded constricted rats with a sustained hypertension established by 3 days. Hypertrophy of left ventricular (LV) cardiomyocytes in constricted rats also occurred by 3 days. However, this hypertrophy was preceded by increases in LV IGF-I mRNA and protein which occurred within 1 day. These results support the hypothesis that cardiac-synthesized IGF-I is an initiating or early-enhancing factor for hypertrophy of LV cardiomyocytes.     

Compensated hypertrophy of cardiac ventricles in aged transgenic FVB/N mice overexpressing calsequestrin

Cardiac-specific overexpression of murine cardiac calsequestrin results in depressed contractile parameters and hypertrophy in transgenic mice. To determine the long-term consequences of calsequestrin overexpression, the cardiac phenotype of young (2–3-months old) and aged (17 months old) transgenic FVB/N mice was characterized. Ventricular/body weight ratios, which were increased in young transgenics compared with wild-types, were unaltered with age. Left atria of aged transgenics exhibited enlargement and mineralization, but their ventricles did not display fibrosis, mineralization and other injuries. Although echocardiography suggested a time-dependent change in ventricular geometry and loading conditions in vivo, as well as an age-dependent reduction of left ventricular fractional shortening in transgenic mice, Langendorff-perfused hearts of young and aged transgenics indicated that there were no age-related reductions of contractile parameters (±dP/dt). Furthermore, neither genotype nor age altered lung/body weight ratios. Thus, our findings suggest that left ventricular performance in calsequestrin overexpressing mice becomes apparently depressed with age, but this depression is not associated with progressive reduction of left ventricular contractility and heart failure.