Erythropoietin improves cardiovascular function in adult rats after acute hemorrhage

Erythropoietin (EPO) has been linked to cardioprotective effects. However, its effects during the aging process are little known. We investigated the effect of EPO administration on hemodynamic parameters, cardiac function, oxidative damage, and erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) expression pattern in the hypovolemic state. EPO was administered (1000 IU/kg/3 days) and then acute hemorrhage (20% blood loss) was induced in young and adult rats. There was no difference in plasmatic EPO in either age group. The hemodynamic basal condition was similar, without alterations in renal function and hematocrit, in both age groups. After bleeding, both EPO-treated age groups had increased blood pressure at the end of the experimental protocol, being greater in adult animals. EPO attenuated the tachycardic effect. Ejection fraction and fractional shortening were higher in adult EPO-treated rats subjected to hemorrhage. In the left ventricle, young and adult EPO-treated rats subjected to bleeding showed an increased EPOR expression. A different EPOR expression pattern was observed in the adult right atrial tissue, compared with young animals. EPO treatment decreased oxidative damage to lipids in both age groups. EPO treatment before acute hemorrhage improves cardiovascular function during the aging process, which is mediated by different EPOR pattern expression in the heart tissue.

Dysregulation of Cerebellar Adrenomedullin Signaling During Hypertension

Adrenomedullin (AM) is a peptide involved in blood pressure regulation. AM activates three different receptors, the AM type 1 (AM1), type 2 (AM2), and calcitonin gene-related peptide 1 (CGRP1) receptors. AM triggers several signaling pathways such as adenylyl cyclase (AC), guanylyl cyclase (GC), and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and modulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism. Cerebellar AM, AM-binding sites, and its receptor components are altered during hypertension, although it is unknown if these alterations are associated with changes in AM signaling. Thus, we assessed AM signaling pathways in cerebellar vermis of 16-week-old Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Animals were sacrificed by decapitation, and cerebellar vermis was microdissected under stereomicroscopic control. Tissue was stimulated in vitro with AM. Then the production of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) were assessed along with ERK1/2 activation and three antioxidant enzymes' activity: glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Our findings demonstrate that in the cerebellar vermis of normotensive rats, AM increases cGMP, NO, cAMP production, and ERK1/2 phosphorylation, while decreases basal antioxidant enzyme activity. In addition, AM antagonizes angiotensin II (ANG II)-induced increment of antioxidant enzyme activity. Hypertension blunts AM-induced cGMP and NO production and AM-induced decrease of antioxidant enzyme activity. Meanwhile, AM-induced effects on cAMP production, ERK1/2 activation, and AM-ANG II antagonism were not altered in SHR rats. Our results support a dysregulation of several AM signaling pathways during hypertension in cerebellar vermis.

Renal effects of angiotensin II in the newborn period: role of type 1 and type 2 receptors

BACKGROUND

Evidence suggests a critical role for the renin-angiotensin system in regulating renal function during postnatal development. However, the physiological relevance of a highly elevated renin-angiotensin system early in life is not well understood, nor which angiotensin receptors might be involved. This study was designed to investigate the roles of angiotensin receptors type 1 (AT1R) and type 2 (AT2R) in regulating glomerular and tubular function during postnatal development.

METHODS

The renal effects of the selective antagonist to AT1R, ZD 7155 and to AT2R, PD 1233319 were evaluated in two groups of conscious chronically instrumented lambs aged ~ one week (N = 8) and ~ six weeks (N = 10). Two experiments were carried out in each animal and consisted of the assessment of renal variables including glomerular and tubular function, for 30 min before (Control) and 60 min after infusion of ZD 7155 and PD 123319, respectively. Statistical significance was determined using parametric testing (Student t-test, analysis of variance ANOVA) as appropriate.

RESULTS

ZD 7155 infusion was associated with a significant decrease in glomerular filtration rate and filtration fraction at one but not six weeks; urinary flow rate decreased significantly in older animals, whereas sodium excretion and free water clearance were not altered. There was an age-dependent effect on potassium handling along the nephron, potassium excretion decreasing after ZD 7155 infusion in younger but not in older lambs. PD 123319 had no significant effects on glomerular filtration rate and tubular function in either age group.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide evidence to support an important role for AT1Rs in mediating the renal effects of angiotensin II during postnatal maturation in conscious developing animals. In contrast to a role for AT2Rs later in life, there appears to be no role for AT2Rs in influencing the renal effects of Angiotensin II in the postnatal period.

Developmentally regulated effects of severe hemorrhage on cardiovascular homeostasis and the arterial baroreflex control of heart rate

The purpose of this study was to investigate in developing animals, the cardiovascular responses to severe hemorrhage at which compensatory mechanisms fail and when blood pressure remains decreased after blood loss. Two groups of conscious lambs (Group I: one to two weeks, N = 7; group II: six to seven weeks, N = 7) were studied. Mean arterial pressure, systolic and diastolic pressures, and heart rate were measured for 20 min before (Control, C) and for 60 min after a fixed hemorrhage of 30% of blood volume. The arterial baroreflex control of heart rate was assessed before (C), and at 30 and 60 min intervals after hemorrhage. Mean arterial pressure decreased for up to 60 min after hemorrhage in both groups of lambs. In group I, heart rate decreased from 200 ± 29 (C) to 164 ± 24 beat min(-1) at 30 min then increased to 232 ± 45 beat min(-1) at 60 min, whereas heart rate remained unaltered in group II. With respect to the arterial baroreflex control of heart rate, by 30 min after hemorrhage in group I, there was a decrease in the heart rate range over which the baroreflex operates (P1) from 192 ± 13 (C) to 102 ± 9 beats min(-1); by 60 min after hemorrhage, there was a decrease in minimum heart rate (P4) from 72 ± 10 (C) to 32 ± 25 beats min(-1). In group II, P1 decreased to a lesser extent than group I from 134 ± 21 (C) to 82 ± 10 beats min(-1) at 30 min; minimum heart rate (P4) decreased from 40 ± 15 (C) to 24 ± 9 and 20 ± 13 beats min(-1) at 30 and 60 min, respectively. These results provide the first assessment of the arterial baroreflex control of heart rate following blood loss and new evidence that the cardiovascular responses to severe hemorrhage are developmentally regulated.

Angiotensin receptors modulate the renal hemodynamic effects of nitric oxide in conscious newborn lambs

This study aimed to elucidate the roles of both angiotensin II (ANG II) receptors - type 1 (AT1Rs) and type 2 (AT2Rs) - separately and together in influencing hemodynamic effects of endogenously produced nitric oxide (NO) during postnatal development. In conscious, chronically instrumented lambs aged ~1 week (8 ± 1 days, N = 8) and ~6 weeks (41 ± 2 days, N = 8), systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure (SAP, DAP, MAP) and venous pressure (MVP), renal blood flow (RBF), and renal vascular resistance (RVR) were measured in response to the l-arginine analog, l-NAME after pretreatment with either the AT1R antagonist, ZD 7155, the AT2R antagonist, PD 123319, or both antagonists. The increase in SAP, DAP, and MAP by l-NAME was not altered by either ATR antagonist in either age group. The increase in RBF after l-NAME was, however, altered by both ATR antagonists in an age-dependent manner, which was mediated predominantly through AT2Rs in newborn lambs. These findings reveal that there is an age-dependent interaction between the renin-angiotensin (RAS) and the NO pathway in regulating renal but not systemic hemodynamics through both ATRs, whereas AT2Rs appear to be important in the renal hemodynamic effects of NO early in life.