Arginase Inhibition Reverses Monocrotaline-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension.

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a heterogeneous disorder associated with a poor prognosis. Thus, the development of novel treatment strategies is of great interest. The enzyme arginase (Arg) is emerging as important player in PH development. The aim of the current study was to determine the expression of ArgI and ArgII as well as the effects of Arg inhibition in a rat model of PH. PH was induced in 35 Sprague-Dawley rats by monocrotaline (MCT, 60 mg/kg as single-dose). There were three experimental groups: sham-treated controls (control group, n = 11), MCT-induced PH (MCT group, n = 11) and MCT-induced PH treated with the Arg inhibitor Nω-hydroxy-nor-l-arginine (nor-NOHA; MCT/NorNoha group, n = 13). ArgI and ArgII expression was determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Right ventricular systolic pressure (RVPsys) was measured and lung tissue remodeling was determined. Induction of PH resulted in an increase in RVPsys (81 ± 16 mmHg) compared to the control group (41 ± 15 mmHg, p = 0.002) accompanied by a significant elevation of histological sum-score (8.2 ± 2.4 in the MCT compared to 1.6 ± 1.6 in the control group, p < 0.001). Both, ArgI and ArgII were relevantly expressed in lung tissue and there was a significant increase in the MCT compared to the control group (p < 0.01). Arg inhibition resulted in a significant reduction of RVPsys to 52 ± 19 mmHg (p = 0.006) and histological sum-score to 5.8 ± 1.4 compared to the MCT group (p = 0.022). PH leads to increased expression of Arg. Arg inhibition leads to reduction of RVPsys and diminished lung tissue remodeling and therefore represents a potential treatment strategy in PH.

• Authors: Christian Jung, Katja Grün, Stefan Betge, John Pernow, Malte Kelm, Johanna Muessig, Maryna Masyuk, Friedhelm Kuethe, Bernadin Ndongson-Dongmo, Reinhard Bauer, Alexander Lauten, P Christian Schulze, Alexander Berndt, Marcus Franz
• Journal: International journal of molecular sciences (Int J Mol Sci) Vol. 18 Issue 8 (Jul 25 2017) ISSN: 1422-0067 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 28757567 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• N(omega)-hydroxynorarginine
• Monocrotaline
• Arginine
• Arg2 protein, rat
• Arginase
• arginase I, rat

Topics

• Animals
• Arginase (metabolism)
• Arginine (administration & dosage, analogs & derivatives, pharmacology)
• Disease Models, Animal
• Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic (drug effects)
• Heart Ventricles (drug effects, physiopathology)
• Humans
• Hypertension, Pulmonary (chemically induced, drug therapy, enzymology, physiopathology)
• Lung (drug effects, enzymology)
• Monocrotaline (adverse effects)
• Rats, Sprague-Dawley
• Treatment Outcome