. Activation of Rho/Rho kinase signaling pathway by reactive oxygen species in rat aorta. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 287: H1495-H1500; 2004; 10.1152/ajpheart.01006.2003.-Evidence indicates that both the Rho/ Rho kinase signaling pathway and reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide and H 2O2 are involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension. This study aimed to determine whether ROS-induced vascular contraction is mediated through activation of Rho/Rho kinase. Rat aortic rings (endothelium denuded) were isolated and placed in organ chambers for measurement of isometric force development. ROS were generated by a xanthine (X)-xanthine oxidase (XO) mixture. The antioxidants tempol (3 mM) and catalase (1,200 U/ml) or the XO inhibitor allopurinol (400 M) significantly reduced X/XOinduced contraction. A Rho kinase inhibitor, (ϩ)-(R)-trans-4-(1-aminoethyl-N-4-pyridil)cyclohexanecarboxamide dihydrochloride (Y-27632), decreased the contraction in a concentration-dependent manner; however, the Ca 2ϩ -independent protein kinase C inhibitor rottlerin did not have an effect on X/XO-induced contraction. Phosphorylation of the myosin light chain phosphatase target subunit (MYPT1) was increased by ROS, and preincubation with Y-27632 blocked this increased phosphorylation. Western blotting for cytosolic and membrane-bound fractions of Rho showed that Rho was increased in the membrane fraction by ROS, suggesting activation of Rho. These observations demonstrate that ROS-induced Ca 2ϩ sensitization is through activation of Rho and a subsequent increase in Rho kinase activity but not Ca 2ϩ -independent PKC. myosin light chain phosphatase; smooth muscle contraction; antioxidants CONTRACTION OF SMOOTH MUSCLE is regulated by both Ca 2ϩ -dependent and Ca 2ϩ -independent (Ca 2ϩ sensitization) mechanisms. A rise in intracellular Ca 2ϩ levels leads to myosin light chain (MLC) kinase activation, resulting in an increase in MLC phosphorylation. Importantly, MLC phosphorylation can also be increased through inhibition of MLC phosphatase, which augments smooth muscle force generation without a change in intracellular Ca 2ϩ (38).In recent years, studies have revealed that the small GTPase Rho and its downstream target Rho kinase mediate the Ca 2ϩ sensitization of smooth muscle contraction (37). The exchange of bound GDP for GTP activates Rho and stimulates its translocation from cytosol to membrane. Rho-GTP phosphorylates Rho kinase, which inhibits MLC phosphatase activity by phosphorylation of the MLC phosphatase target subunit (MYPT1). A decrease in MLC phosphatase activity increases phosphorylation of myosin and therefore contributes to smooth muscle contraction at low levels of intracellular Ca 2ϩ concentration. Strong evidence suggests that increased Rho/Rho kinase-dependent Ca 2ϩ sensitization contributes to hypertension and inhibition of Rho or Rho kinase reduces blood pressure (33, 42). Some heterotrimetric G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) agonists, including angiotensin II (ANG II) and endothelin (ET)-1, induce smooth mus...

Remodeling of the cerebral vasculature contributes to the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia. Remodeling is caused by increased smooth muscle proliferation and may be due to an increase in the responsiveness of vascular cells to epidermal growth factor (EGF). Aldosterone is a risk factor for stroke, and the literature suggests it may play a role in increasing the expression of the receptor for EGF (EGFR). We hypothesized that mRNA for the EGF-stimulated pathway would be elevated in the vasculature of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) and that this and experimental ischemic cerebral infract size would be reduced by aldosterone inhibition with spironolactone. We found that spironolactone treatment reduced the size of cerebral infarcts after middle cerebral artery occlusion in SHRSP (51.69 +/- 3.60 vs. 22.00 +/- 6.69% of hemisphere-infarcted SHRSP vs. SHRSP + spironolactone P < 0.05). Expression of EGF and EGFR mRNA was higher in cerebral vessels and aorta from adult SHRSP compared with Wistar-Kyoto rats. Only the expression of EGFR mRNA was elevated in the young SHRSP. Spironolactone reduced the EGFR mRNA expression in the aorta (1.09 +/- 0.25 vs. 0.56 +/- 0.11 phosphorimage units SHRSP vs. SHRSP + spironolactone P < 0.05) but had no effect on EGF mRNA. In vitro incubation of aorta with aldosterone +/- spironolactone produced similar results, suggesting a direct effect of aldosterone. Thus spironolactone may reduce the size of cerebral infarcts via a reduction in the expression of the EGFR mRNA, leading to reduced remodeling.

A contributing factor to increased peripheral resistance seen during hypertension is an increased production of endothelium-derived contractile factors (EDCFs). The main EDCFs are vasoconstrictor prostanoids, metabolites of arachidonic acid (AA) produced by Ca(2+)-dependent cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) following phosphorylation (at Ser(505)) mediated by extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) and cyclooxygenase (COX) activations. Although endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been shown to contribute to pathophysiological alterations in cardiovascular diseases, the relationship between ER stress and EDCF-mediated responses remains unclear. We tested the hypothesis that ER stress plays a role in EDCF-mediated responses via activation of the cPLA2/COX pathway in the aorta of the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). Male SHR and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were treated with ER stress inhibitor, tauroursodeoxycholic acid or 4-phenlybutyric acid (TUDCA or PBA, respectively, 100 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1) ip) or PBS (control, 300 μl/day ip) for 1 wk. There was a decrease in systolic blood pressure in SHR treated with TUDCA or PBA compared with control SHR (176 ± 3 or 181 ± 5, respectively vs. 200 ± 2 mmHg). In the SHR, treatment with TUDCA or PBA normalized aortic (vs. control SHR) 1) contractions to acetylcholine (ACh), AA, and tert-butyl hydroperoxide, 2) ACh-stimulated releases of prostanoids (thromboxane A2, PGF2α, and prostacyclin), 3) expression of COX-1, 4) phosphorylation of cPLA2 and ERK1/2, and 5) production of H2O2. Our findings demonstrate a novel interplay between ER stress and EDCF-mediated responses in the aorta of the SHR. Moreover, ER stress inhibition normalizes such responses by suppressing the cPLA2/COX pathway.

For decades, essential hypertension has been primarily viewed from a hemodynamic, neural, and renal perspective. However, based on mounting evidence from clinical, epidemiological, and experimental studies, it has become increasingly recognized that disturbances in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism often accompany high blood pressure, and that essential hypertension may also represent a disorder of cardiovascular endocrinology and metabolism (1, 2). In patients with essential hypertension, clustering of metabolic cardiovascular risk factors -including glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemiamay promote susceptibility to target organ damage and partly explain why conventional antihypertensive agents have failed to reduce the risk for coronary heart disease to the extent predicted from epidemiological studies (2).Recently, a provocative hypothesis has emerged in which inherited disorders of carbohydrate or lipid metabolism are held to be at the core of the hypertension syndrome and to contribute to the primary pathogenesis of increased blood pressure. Studies in nonobese subjects with a family history of hypertension and in a variety of experimental animal models have suggested that alterations in carbohydrate and/or lipid metabolism can influence the regulation of blood pressure and might precede the development of hypertension (3-5). The lack of insulin resistance in patients with secondary forms of hypertension, together with observations of disordered carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in cultured adipocytes from hypertensive animals, indicates that at least some endocrine-metabolic disturbances are not simply a consequence of increased blood pressure (4,(6)(7)(8). Hence, there is intense interest in identifying genetic mechanisms that may underlie the association between increased blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors in essential hypertension.The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is the most Disorders of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism have been reported to cluster in patients with essential hypertension and in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). A deletion in the Cd36 gene on chromosome 4 has recently been implicated in defective carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in isolated adipocytes from SHRs. However, the role of Cd36 and chromosome 4 in the control of blood pressure and systemic cardiovascular risk factors in SHRs is unknown. In the SHR.BN-Il6/Npy congenic strain, we have found that transfer of a segment of chromosome 4 (including Cd36) from the Brown Norway (BN) rat onto the SHR background induces reductions in blood pressure and ameliorates dietary-induced glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia. These results demonstrate that a single chromosome region can influence a broad spectrum of cardiovascular risk factors involved in the hypertension metabolic syndrome. However, analysis of Cd36 genotypes in the SHR and stroke-prone SHR strains indicates that the deletion variant of Cd36 was not critical to the initial selection for hypert...