title: Nicorandil ameliorated hypertensive renal injury without lowering blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: Proteinuria, a symptom of hypertensive renal injury, is a powerful predictor of mortality in chronic kidney disease patients with hypertension. The present study investigated whether a nonhypotensive dose of nicorandil could decrease hypertensive renal injury in male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Nicorandil (15 mg/kg/day, for 20 weeks) was administered in the drinking water to rats from 11 weeks old. Heart size, kidney size, and β(2)-microglobulin occurring with tubular histopathological damage were each significantly greater in SHR than in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, as was 24-hour excretion of urinary protein (SHR: 33.1 ± 3.5 mg/day, WKY: 5.4 ± 0.3 mg/day). Nicorandil significantly decreased urinary protein (21.7 ± 2.8 mg/day), glomerular cell density, and histopathological score without affecting systolic blood pressure. Nicorandil increased expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) protein in the renal cortex in SHR without affecting expressions of mRNA for endothelin or genes involved in tissue damage or fibrosis. eNOS expression was negatively correlated with glomerular cell density. In addition, nicorandil increased urinary excretion of NOx, but did not change the eNOS dimer-to-monomer ratio or the decreased level of renal heparan sulfate in SHR. In conclusion, in SHR, long-term administration of nicorandil can ameliorate hypertensive proteinuria, without lowering blood pressure, possibly through an increase in eNOS expression.
authors.affiliation: Product Research Department, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Gotemba, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Serizawa
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yogo
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tashiro
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.forename: Michinori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishizuka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D020108:Nicorandil / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III / Q000235:genetics; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020108:Nicorandil; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; C496316:Nos3 protein, rat