ABSTRACT
Aim To examine the effect of Nampt over-expression on cardiac hypertrophy,and elucidate the role of NF-κB.Methods The cultured neonatal car-diomyocytes were pretreated with 100 μmol · L-1 PE or transfected with Nampt.The mRNA and protein ex-pression of Nampt were determined by Real-time PCR and Western blot respectively.The cardiomyocyte hy-pertrophy was monitored by measuring cell-surface area and the mRNA levels of ANP and BNP,which were biomarkers of hypertrophic response.Moreover,we te-sted the effects of Nampt on NF-κB-dependent tran-scription activity through luciferase reporter gene as-says.Results Nampt overexpression significantly in-creased cardiomyocyte surface area and the mRNA ex-pression of ANP and BNP.In addition,Nampt overex-pression could markedly increase NF-κB-dependent transcription activity. Moreover, when p65 was knocked down,cardiomyocytes with Nampt overexpres-sion could not induce cardiac hypertrophy.Conclusion Overexpression of Nampt induces cardiac hypertro-phy by increasing NF-κB-dependent transcription activ-ity.