title: Intravenous administration of piceatannol, an arginase inhibitor, improves endothelial dysfunction in aged mice.
abstract: Advanced age is one of the risk factors for vascular diseases that are mainly caused by impaired nitric oxide (NO) production. It has been demonstrated that endothelial arginase constrains the activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and limits NO generation. Hence, arginase inhibition is suggested to be vasoprotective in aging. In this study, we examined the effects of intravenous injection of Piceatannol, an arginase inhibitor, on aged mice. Our results show that Piceatannol administration reduced the blood pressure in aged mice by inhibiting arginase activity, which was associated with NO production and reactive oxygen species generation. In addition, Piceatannol administration recovered Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II phosphorylation, eNOS phosphorylation and eNOS dimer stability in the aged mice. The improved NO signaling was shown to be effective in attenuating the phenylephrine-dependent contractile response and in enhancing the acetylcholine-dependent vasorelaxation response in aortic rings from the aged mice. These data suggest Piceatannol as a potential treatment for vascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea.
authors.forename: Minh Cong
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea.
authors.forename: Sungwoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ryoo
keywords: Age-associated diseases; Arginase inhibition; Endothelial dysfunction; Endothelial nitric oxide synthase; Intravenous injection; Piceatannol