Upregulation of small GTPase RhoA in the basilar artery from diabetic (mellitus) rats

The goal of this study was to determine whether RhoA, a small GTPase, might be involved in the development of cerebral pathogenesis in diabetes. Male SD rats (n = 120) were divided into six groups: diabetic for 2, 4, 8 weeks, and an age-matched control group. Diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of streptozotocin (50 mg/kg). RhoA mRNA expression in basilar artery was measured by competitive RT-PCR. RhoA mRNA level was significantly increased in 4 weeks (184.1 +/- 28.5%, n = 7) and 8 weeks (218.7 +/- 24.5%, n = 7) after STZ injection compared to the age matched control basilar arteries (P < 0.05). Western blot was used to measure the membrane binding RhoA level to represent the activity of RhoA. We found that RhoA activity was strikingly increased in the diabetic basilar artery (n = 10 in each groups) compared to control basilar artery after STZ injection. Our data demonstrated that there was an upregulation of RhoA in the basilar artery of STZ induced diabetic rats, suggesting that RhoA might be involved in the cerebral vascular pathogenesis during diabetes mellitus.