title: Impact of obesity on the expression profile of natriuretic peptide system in a rat experimental model.
abstract: Natriuretic peptides (NPs) play an important role in obesity and aim of this study was to evaluate, in cardiac tissue of obese Zucker rats (O, n = 29) their transcriptomic profile compared to controls (CO, n = 24) by Real-Time PCR study; CNP protein expression was evaluated by immunostaining and immunometric tests. Myocardial histology was performed, confirming no alteration of organ structure. While ANP and BNP are cardiac peptides, CNP is mainly an endothelial hormone; thus its expression, as well as that of NPR-B and NPR-C, was also evaluated in kidney and lung of an animal subgroup (n = 20). In heart, lower BNP mRNA levels in O vs CO (p = 0.02) as well as ANP and CNP (p = ns), were detected. NPR-B/NPR-A mRNA was similar in O and CO, while NPR-C was numerically lower (p = ns) in O than in CO. In kidney, CNP/NPR-B/NPR-C mRNA was similar in O and CO, while in lung CNP/NPR-C expression decreased and NPR-B increased (p = ns) in O vs CO. Subdividing into fasting and hyperglycemic rats, the pattern of mRNA expression for each gene analyzed remained unchanged. The trend observed in heart, kidney and lung for CNP protein concentrations and immunohistochemistry reflected the mRNA expression. TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA were measured in each tissue and no significant genotype effect was detected in any tissue. The main NP variations were observed at the cardiac level, suggesting a reduced release by cardiac cells. The understanding of mechanisms involved in the modulation of the NP system in obesity could be a useful starting point for future clinical study devoted to identifying new obesity treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cabiati
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raucci
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liistro
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Belcastro
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Prescimone
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caselli
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matteucci
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Iozzo
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mattii
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giannessi
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Del Ry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000378:metabolism; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D045265:Natriuretic Peptides / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011924:Rats, Zucker; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D045265:Natriuretic Peptides; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain