Thyroid hormones play critical roles in differentiation, growth and metabolism, but their participation in immune system regulation has not been completely elucidated. Modulation of in vivo thyroid status was used to carry out an integrative analysis of the role of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis in T and B lymphocyte activity. The participation of the protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathway and the release of some cytokines upon antigenic stimulation were analyzed. Lymphocytes from hyperthyroid mice displayed higher Tand B-cell mitogen-induced proliferation, and those from hypothyroid mice displayed lower T-and B-cell mitogeninduced proliferation, compared with euthyroid animals. Reversion of hypothyroid state by triiodothyronine (T3) administration recovered the proliferative responses. No differences were found in lymphoid subset balance. Both total PKC content and mitogen-induced PKC translocation were higher in T and B cells from hyperthyroid mice, and lower in cells from hypothyroid mice, compared with controls. Levels of thyroid-stimulating (TSH) and TSHreleasing (TRH) hormones were not directly related to lymphocyte proliferative responses. After immunization with sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) and re-stimulation, in vitro spleen cells from hyper-or hypothyroid mice showed, respectively, increased or decreased production of interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-cytokines. Additionally, an increase in IL-6 and IFN-levels was found in hyperthyroid cells after in vivo injection and in vitro re-stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).Our results show for the first time a thyroid hormonemediated regulation of PKC content and of cytokine production in lymphocytes; this regulation could be involved in the altered responsiveness to mitogen-induced proliferation of T and B cells. The results also confirm the important role that these hormones play in regulating lymphocyte reactivity.
Abstract-Local thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) may be involved in cardiac pathophysiology, but its role in left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is still unknown. We studied whether local TRH is involved in LVH of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) by investigating TRH expression and its long-term inhibition by interference RNA (TRH-iRNA) during LVH development at 2 stages (prehypertrophy and hypertrophy). SHR and their control rats (WKY) were compared. Cardiac hypertrophy was expressed as heart/total body weight (HW/BW) ratio. TRH content (radioimmuno assay), preproTRH, TRH receptor type I, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and collagen mRNA expressions (real-time polymerase chain reaction) were measured. For long-term inhibition of TRH, TRH-iRNA was injected into the left ventricle (LV) wall for 8 weeks. Hearts were processed for morphometric studies and immunohistochemical analysis using antibodies against ␣-smooth muscle actin and collagen type III. LV preproTRHmRNA abundance was similar in both strains at 7 weeks of age. At the hypertrophic stage (18 weeks old), however, there was a 15-fold increase in SHR versus WKY, consistent with a significant increase in tripeptide levels and the expression of its receptor. Specific LV-TRH inhibition at the prehypertensive stage with TRH-iRNA, which decreased Ͼ50% preproTRH expression and tripeptide levels, prevented LVH development as shown by the normal HW/BW ratio observed in TRH-iRNA-treated SHR. In addition, TRH-iRNA impeded the increase in BNP and type III collagen expressions and prevented the increase in cardiomyocyte diameter evident in mismatch iRNA-treated adult SHR. These results show for the first time that the cardiac TRH system is involved in the development of LVH in SHR. (Hypertension.
2011;57:103-109.) • Online Data SupplementKey Words: TRH Ⅲ cardiac hypertrophy Ⅲ rat Ⅲ SHR Ⅲ interference RNA T hyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), a small neuropeptide (p-Glu-His-Pro-NH2) initially identified in the hypothalamus, is amply distributed in the central nervous system 1 and in other extraneural tissues 2 and has been shown to have central and peripheral biological effects independent of thyroid hormone production. 3 TRH also acts on the cardiovascular system of rodents. 4,5 Many groups have identified preproTRH-mRNA by Northern blot analysis and RNAse protection assay in rat cardiac tissues and have referred the presence of specific type I TRH receptors (TRH-R1) in ventricles, establishing that a TRH system is present in the rat heart. 6 -8 In contrast to the hypothalamic TRH system, cardiac preproTRH-mRNA may be augmented by glucocorticoids and by testosterone but may not be regulated by T 3 . 8 In addition, Hasegawa et al 9 reported for the first time an inotropic effect of TRH on the guinea pig myocardium, implying that this effect could be mediated by an increase in a slow inward Ca 2ϩ current. Furthermore, Socci et al 7 found similar results and reported that TRH modulates cardiac contractility of isolated rat hearts as an autocrine factor in a conce...
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