Relaxin is a candidate drug for lung preservation: Relaxin-induced protection of rat lungs from ischemia-reperfusion injury

International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. XCV. Recent Advances in the Understanding of the Pharmacology and Biological Roles of Relaxin Family Peptide Receptors 1–4, the Receptors for Relaxin Family Peptides

“…In a similar model, relaxin decreases inflammatory cytokines, counteracts oxidative damage by increasing SOD-1 and SOD-2 expression, and ameliorates neutrophil-related injury as assessed by myeloperoxidase levels (Collino et al, 2013). Finally, the beneficial effects of relaxin are also observed in IR experiments in isolated rat lungs (Alexiou et al, 2010(Alexiou et al, , 2013 where there is inhibition of leukocytes and oxidative surge, as well as prevention of ET-1 stimulation, resulting in less edema formation and lower pulmonary vascular pressure.…”

“…NO appears to be critically involved in organ protection (Masini et al, 1997;Alexiou et al, 2010Alexiou et al, , 2013Collino et al, 2013). In rat lung, relaxin evokes an early and moderate increase in iNOS dependent on ERK1/2 activation that is counterbalanced by PI3K recruitment (Alexiou et al, 2013).…”

S262A mutation abolishes protective effects of connexin 43 against hypothermic preservation–induced injury in cardiomyocytes

“…Several strategies have been assessed to reduce I/R injury and to enhance organ preservation, including adding a range of chemical compounds, or genetic modification of the organ with the adenovirus delivery system. 8,9 Some organ preservation solutions have been developed and applied in transplantation, but cold ischemic storage of the heart is still limited to 4 to 6 hours because preservation solutions have been unable to significantly inhibit the ensuing I/R injury. 10 Cx43, as an important player in the pathophysiology of myocardial I/R injury, has a role in protection during ischemic and pharmacologic pre-conditioning.…”

Current treatments for acute heart failure: focus on serelaxin

“…72 In addition to the heart, relaxin protects against ischemia-reperfusion injury in other organs including kidney, lung, liver, brain, and intestine. [91][92][93][94][95][96] A feature that contributes to the morbidity and mortality in heart disease is cardiac fibrosis. 97 One of the best characterized functions of relaxin is in remodeling of extracellular matrix proteins and protection from fibrosis.…”