title: [Involvement of endothelin-1 in hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of endogenous endothelin-1 (ET-1) on cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by hypoxia and its possible mechanism.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were divided into control group and ET receptor antagonist group. Control group was given DMEM only and ET receptor antagonist group was treated with ET receptor subtype A (ET(A)) receptor antagonist BQ610 and BQ123 or ET(B) receptor antagonist BQ788 and subjected to hypoxia for 24 h. The presence of apoptosis in cardiomyocytes was evaluated by TUNEL analysis and flow cytometry (FCM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  TUNEL analysis showed that the percentage of positive apoptotic cells in BQ610 5 micromol/L group was 13.2% +/- 3.7%, significantly lower than that in hypoxia group (24.2% +/- 2.2%, P < 0.01). FCM showed that BQ123 (0.04, 0.2 and 1.0 micromol/L) inhibited hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and increased cardiomyocyte survival rate in a dose-dependent manner, while BQ788 did not show such effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that endogenous ET-1 aggravates hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and this effect is mediated through ET(A) receptor-dependent pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Xiong-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: An-Jing
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Wen-Jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D017209:Apoptosis; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D065130:Endothelin A Receptor Antagonists; D065131:Endothelin B Receptor Antagonists; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D065130:Endothelin A Receptor Antagonists; D065131:Endothelin B Receptor Antagonists; D019332:Endothelin-1