title: [Effects of sapindus saponins on inflammatory response mediated by Ang II/p38MAPK pathway and cardiac hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effects of sapindus saponins on myocardial inflammation mediated by Ang II/ p38MAPK signal pathway and cardiac hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats. And also to explore the correlation of cardiac hypertrophy and inflammation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-two 16-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were randomly divided into four groups, one with placebo as model group, one with captopril tablets (27 mg x kg(-1)) as positive control, one with low-dose sapindus saponins (27 mg x kg(-1)), one with high-dose (108 mg x kg(-1)). And another eight healthy Wistar-Kyoto strain (WKY) rats were used as the normal group. The animals were treated for eight weeks, and the indicators detected were as follows: (1) left ventricular mass index (LVMI); (2) the content of Ang II and hs-CRP in plasma were determined by ELISA; (3) the protein expression of AT1R and VEGF were determined by immunohistochemical method; (4) the protein expression of p-p38MAPK in myocardial cells was determined by Western blot.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sapindus saponins reduced LVMI, and blocked the expression level of Ang II, AT1R, p-p38MAPK, VEGF and hs-CRP in myocardial tissue. Vs the SHR model group, there were significant differences (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggested that sapindus saponins could inhibited cardiac hypertrophy, the possible mechanisms may be related to the inhibition on inflammatory response mediated by Ang II/p38MAPK pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230038, China. chenming_ming@sina.com
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhi-Wu
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zi-Jiang
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Jin-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hua-Wu
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ya-Juan
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000804:Angiotensin II / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D032127:Sapindus / Q000737:chemistry*; D012503:Saponins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D012503:Saponins; D000804:Angiotensin II; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases