The decline of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) gene expression in older rats and the effects of ginsenoside on ANP gene expression. |
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Authors: | M Hong Y Jin Y Q Mai A Boersma K K Han M C Vantyghem J Lefebvre |
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Affiliation: | Department of Biochemistry, Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. |
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Abstract: | 1. The levels of atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP) gene expression in rat atria at 2-3 and 14-18 months of age and the effects of ginsenosides on r-ANP gene expression by determining the concentration of ANP-mRNA were investigated. The male and female rats were abdominally (i.p.) injected with aqueous solution of ginsenosides prepared from ginseng stems and leaves (G-PSL) and ginseng roots (G-PR), 50 mg/kg body wt, once a day for 7 days. Atria total RNA was extracted by the cold phenol method. The ANP-mRNA contents were determined using the Northern blot and dot blot hybridization technique with alpha-32*P-labelled r-prepro-ANP-cDNA probe. 2. The ANP-mRNA contents of 14-18 month rats were remarkably less than that of 2-3 month rats. The levels of male and female rats' atria at 14-18 months were about 15 and 60%, the content of male and female rats at 2-3 months respectively. 3. G-PSL and G-PR increased the ANP-mRNA content of male rats at 14-18 months 1- and 2-fold, respectively, whereas G-PSL and G-PR decreased the ANP-mRNA content in male rats of age 2-3 months. 4. These results revealed that the ANP gene expression declined during ontogenic ageing development and ginsenosides possessed anti-ageing effects in the heart endocrineous function aspect. |
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