title: Repeated electroacupuncture attenuating of apelin expression and function in the rostral ventrolateral medulla in stress-induced hypertensive rats.
abstract: Studies have revealed that apelin is a novel multifunctional peptide implicated both in blood pressure (BP) regulation and cardiac function control. Evidence shows that apelin and its receptor (APJ) in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) may play an important role in central BP regulation; however, its role is controversial and very few reports have shown the relationship between acupuncture and apelin. Our study aims to both investigate the apelinergic system role in stress-induced hypertension (SIH) and determine whether acupuncture therapy effects on hypertension involve the apelinergic system in the RVLM. We established the stress-induced hypertensive rat (SIHR) model using electric foot-shock stressors with noise interventions. The expression of both apelin and the APJ receptor in the RVLM neurons was examined by immunohistochemical staining and Western blots. The results showed apelin expression increased remarkably in SIHR while APJ receptor expression showed no significant difference between control and SIHR groups. Microinjection of apelin-13 into the RVLM of control rats or SIHR produced pressor and tachycardic effects. Furthermore, effects induced by apelin-13 in SIHR were significantly greater than those of control rats. In addition, repetitive electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation at the Zusanli (ST-36) acupoint attenuated hypertension and apelin expression in the RVLM in SIHR; it also attenuated the pressor effect elicited by exogenous apelin-13 microinjection in SIHR. The results suggest that augmented apelin in the RVLM was part of the manifestations of SIH; the antihypertensive effects of EA might be associated with the attenuation of apelin expression and function in the RVLM, which might be a novel role for EA in SIH setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, 138 Yixueyuan Road, Shanghai 200032, China. 082101002@fudan.edu.cn
authors.forename: Cheng-Rong
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chun-Mei
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Mei-Yan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Min-Xia
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Ji-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Dong-Shu
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Da-Nian
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000073861:Apelin; D000075244:Apelin Receptors; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D000073861:Apelin; D000075244:Apelin Receptors; C498579:Apln protein, rat; C491284:Aplnr protein, rat; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled
keywords: APJ; APJ receptor; APJ-I; Apelin; EA; Electroacupuncture; FASBP; NTS; PVN; RVLM; Rimmunoreactive APJ; Rostral ventrolateral medulla; SBP; SHR; SIH; SIHR; SIHR+EA; SIHR+SEA; SON; ST-36; Stress-induced hypertension; TASBP; Zusanli acupoint; aCSF; apelin receptor; apelin-IR; artificial cerebrospinal fluid; electroacupuncture; femoral artery systolic blood pressure; immunoreactive apelin; nucleus tractus solitarius; paraventricular nucleus; rostral ventrolateral medulla; spontaneously hypertensive rats; stomach 36 (acupoint); stress-induced hypertension; stress-induced hypertensive rats; stress-induced hypertensive rats with electroacupuncture treatment; stress-induced hypertensive rats with sham electroacupuncture treatment; supraoptic nucleus; systolic blood pressure; tail artery systolic blood pressure