Cellular mechanisms of losartan on reversing left ventricular hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: To investigate the role of proliferation and apoptosis in hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and the effect of AT 1 blockade with losartan. METHODS: Left ventricles (LV) from 12, 24-week-old SHR (SHR 12 , SHR 24 ), 24-week-old SHR treated with losartan (15 mg?kg -1 ?d -1 , SHR-L 24 ) during 12 weeks, and age-matched WKY rats (WKY 12 , WKY 24 ) were studied. Expression of PCNA was examined by immunohistochemistry. Apoptotic cells in LV sections were assessed by TUNEL method. Levels of fas mRNA were quantitated by RT-PCR. RESULTS: Compared with age-matched WKY, SHR 12 and SHR 24 showed increased LV hypertrophied index (HI), increased apoptotic index (AI) of myocytes ( P