Augmented cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload in mice lacking the prostaglandin I2 receptor.
BACKGROUND
In the heart, the expressions of several types of prostanoid receptors have been reported. However, their roles in cardiac hypertrophy in vivo remain unknown. We intended to clarify the roles of these receptors in pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy using mice lacking each of their receptors.


RESULTS
We used a model of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy produced by banding of the transverse aorta in female mice. In wild-type mice subjected to the banding, cardiac hypertrophy developed during the observation period of 8 weeks. In mice lacking the prostaglandin (PG) I2 receptor (IP(-/-)), however, cardiac hypertrophy and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy were significantly greater than in wild-type mice at 2 and 4 weeks but not at 8 weeks, whereas there was no such augmentation in mice lacking the prostanoid receptors other than IP. In addition, cardiac fibrosis observed in wild-type hearts was augmented in IP(-/-) hearts, which persisted for up to 8 weeks. In IP(-/-) hearts, the expression level of mRNA for atrial natriuretic peptide, a representative marker of cardiac hypertrophy, was significantly higher than in wild-type hearts. In vitro, cicaprost, an IP agonist, reduced platelet-derived growth factor-induced proliferation of wild-type noncardiomyocytes, although it could not inhibit cardiotrophin-1-induced hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes. Accordingly, cicaprost increased cAMP concentration efficiently in noncardiomyocytes.


CONCLUSIONS
IP plays a suppressive role in the development of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy via the inhibition of both cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis. Both effects have been suggested as originating from the action on noncardiomyocytes rather than cardiomyocytes.
Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Midorigaoka-Higashi 2-1-1-1, Asahikawa 078-8510, Japan.
Akiyoshi
A
Hara
Koh-ichi
K
Yuhki
Takayuki
T
Fujino
Takehiro
T
Yamada
Koji
K
Takayama
Shuhko
S
Kuriyama
Osamu
O
Takahata
Hideji
H
Karibe
Yuji
Y
Okada
Chun-Yang
CY
Xiao
Hong
H
Ma
Shuh
S
Narumiya
Fumitaka
F
Ushikubi
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D049108:Cell Enlargement; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D011464:Epoprostenol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D044006:Receptors, Epoprostenol / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
D015415:Biomarkers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D044006:Receptors, Epoprostenol; D011464:Epoprostenol; D000242:Cyclic AMP; C043867:cicaprost