title: Involvement of mast cells in the development of fibrosis in rats with postmyocarditis dilated cardiomyopathy.
abstract: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Occurrence of myocardial fibrosis is an important event in the ventricular remodeling process, which takes place during DCM. Mast cells are well known inflammatory cells implicated in various biological phenomena. The involvement of mast cells in the development of myocardial fibrosis of DCM in rats after autoimmune myocarditis remains unknown. Nine-week-old male Lewis rats were immunized with cardiac myosin and divided into vehicle treated (group V) and disodium cromoglycate (DSCG), a mast cell stabilizer (24 mg/kg i.p.) treated (group DSCG) groups. The animals were sacrificed after 60 d of immunization. The myocardium was excised and preserved for histopathology and protein analysis. Myocardial levels of transforming growth factor (TGF) beta1 and collagen-III were quantified. Staining of mast cells was performed by toluidine blue. A significant correlation was obtained between myocardial fibrosis and cardiac mast cell density. DSCG reduced myocardial fibrosis besides preventing infiltration and degranulation of mast cells. Our findings confirm the active participation of mast cells in the progression of myocardial fibrosis in rats with postmyocarditis DCM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Niigata University of Pharmacy and Applied Life Sciences, Japan.
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palaniyandi Selvaraj
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Meilei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tachikawa
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Yoshifusa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aizawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D015550:Cell Degranulation / Q000187:drug effects; D024061:Collagen Type III / Q000378:metabolism; D004396:Coloring Agents; D004205:Cromolyn Sodium; D005355:Fibrosis; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D024061:Collagen Type III; D004396:Coloring Agents; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D004205:Cromolyn Sodium