Mineralocorticoids participate in the reduced vascular reactivity of pregnant rats

2012 ◽  
Vol 302 (5) ◽  
pp. H1195-H1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Provencher ◽  
V. Houde ◽  
M. Brochu ◽  
J. St-Louis

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAA) system is markedly activated in pregnancy. We evaluated if mineralocorticoid receptors (MR), a major component of the RAA system, are involved in the reduced vascular reactivity associated with pregnancy. Canrenoate (MR antagonist; 20 mg·kg−1·day−1) was administered to nonpregnant (NP) rats for 7 days and to pregnant rats from day 15 to 22 of gestation. These were killed on day 17, 19, or 22 of gestation and, for NP rats, after 7 days treatment. Constrictor responses to phenylephrine (PhE) and KCl were measured in endothelium-denuded thoracic aortic rings under the influence of modulators of potassium (activators) and calcium (blocker) channels. Responses to the constrictors were blunted from days 17 to 22 of gestation. Although canrenoate increased responses to PhE and KCl, it did not reverse their blunted responses in gestation. NS-1619 and cromakalim (respectively, high-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels and ATP-sensitive potassium channel activators) diminished responses to both PhE and KCl. Inhibition by NS-1619 on responses to both agonists was decreased under canrenoate treatment in NP, but the reduced influence of NS-1619 during gestation was reversed by the mineralocorticoid antagonist. Cromakalim reduced the response to PhE significantly in the pregnant groups; this effect was enhanced by canrenoate. Finally, nifedipine (calcium channel blocker) markedly reduced KCl responses but to a lesser extent at the end of pregnancy, an inhibiting effect that was increased with canrenoate treatment. These data demonstrate that treating rats with a MR antagonist increased vascular reactivity but that it differentially affected potassium and calcium channel activity in aortas of NP and pregnant animals. This suggests that aldosterone is one of the components involved in vascular adaptations to pregnancy.

2004 ◽  
Vol 287 (4) ◽  
pp. H1848-H1856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karine Auger ◽  
Annie Beauséjour ◽  
Michèle Brochu ◽  
Jean St-Louis

Gestation is associated with decreased blood pressure and resistance to the effects of vasoconstrictor agents. A recent study showed that pregnant rats, on increased sodium intake, present physiological changes that resemble those observed in preeclampsia. We investigated the effects of sodium supplementation on reactivity and on potassium and Ca2+ channel activity in blood vessels during gestation. Sodium supplements, 0.9% or 1.8% NaCl as drinking water, were given to nonpregnant and pregnant rats for 7 days (last week of gestation). Reactivity to phenylephrine (PE), KCl, arginine vasopressin (AVP), and tetraethylammonium (TEA) was measured in aortic rings under modulation of potassium and calcium channels. TEA, a nonselective K+ channel inhibitor, induced concentration-dependent responses in aortic rings from nonpregnant but not in those from pregnant rats. The response to TEA was restored in rings from pregnant rats after preincubation with 10 mmol/l KCl. Sodium supplementation did not affect the response to TEA in the aortas of pregnant animals. After sodium supplementation, maximum responses to PE and AVP were decreased and increased in aortic rings from nonpregnant and pregnant rats, respectively. Cromakalim (an ATP-sensitive K+ channel activator)-induced inhibition of the responses to the three vasoconstrictors was more striking in aorta from nonpregnant than pregnant rats on regular diet, whereas it produced similar inhibition in tissues from both groups of animals on 0.9% and 1.8% NaCl. NS-1619 (a Ca2+-sensitive K+ activator) elicited heightened effects in the aortas of pregnant animals receiving 0.9% NaCl supplementation. Nifedipine (a Ca2+ channel blocker) caused greater inhibition of the contractile responses in tissues from nonpregnant rats on regular diet, and its action was increased in pregnant rats on sodium-supplemented diets. These data demonstrate that augmented sodium intake during gestation in the rat is linked with the reversal of gestational-associated resistance to vasopressors and indicate that this is an experimental model showing some features of gestational hypertension.


1995 ◽  
Vol 268 (1) ◽  
pp. G90-G94 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Mangel ◽  
V. Prpic ◽  
H. Wong ◽  
S. Basavappa ◽  
L. J. Hurst ◽  
...  

The secretion of cholecystokinin was examined in STC-1 cells, an intestinal cholecystokinin (CCK)-secreting cell line. Exposure to the amino acid L-phenylalanine increased release of CCK by 135%, 180%, and 251% of control levels after 15-min treatments with 5, 20, and 50 mM phenylalanine, respectively. L-Phenylalanine-induced secretion of CCK was inhibited by the calcium channel blocker diltiazem (10 microM). L-Phenylalanine (20 mM) also significantly increased cytosolic calcium levels in fura 2-acetoxymethyl ester (fura 2-AM)-loaded cells, and this increase was diltiazem sensitive. D-Phenylalanine, over the dose range of 5-50 mM, produced nonsignificant increases in CCK release. Treatment of STC-1 cells with 300 ng/ml of pertussis toxin for either 4 or 24 h did not significantly affect either basal release of CCK or L-phenylalanine-stimulated secretion. Patch-clamp recordings from cell-attached membrane patches showed a stimulation in calcium channel activity after L-phenylalanine. These results indicate that, in STC-1 cells, L-phenylalanine stimulates release of cholecystokinin via a calcium-dependent process.


1990 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-408
Author(s):  
Ph. Touraine ◽  
P. Birman ◽  
F. Bai-Grenier ◽  
C. Dubray ◽  
F. Peillon ◽  
...  

Abstract In order to investigate whether a calcium channel blocker could modulate the protein kinase C activity in normal and estradiol pretreated rat pituitary, female Wistar rats were treated or not (controls) with ± PN 200-110 (3 mg · kg−1 · day−1, sc) for 8 days or with estradiol cervical implants for 8 or 15 days, alone or in combination with PN 200-110 the last 8 days. Estradiol treatment induced a significant increase in plasma prolactin levels and pituitary weight. PN 200-110 administered to normal rats did not modify these parameters, whereas it reduced the effects of the 15 days estradiol treatment on prolactin levels (53.1 ± 4.9 vs 95.0 ±9.1 μg/l, p<0.0001) and pituitary weight (19.9 ± 0.4 vs 23.0 ± 0.6 mg, p <0.001), to values statistically comparable to those measured after 8 days of estradiol treatment. PN 200-110 alone did not induce any change in protein kinase C activity as compared with controls. In contrast, PN 200-110 treatment significantly counteracted the large increase in soluble activity and the decrease in the particulate one induced by estradiol between day 8 and day 15. We conclude that PN 200-110 opposed the stimulatory effects of chronic in vivo estradiol treatment on plasma prolactin levels and pituitary weight and that this regulation was related to a concomitant modulation of the protein kinase C activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiji Umemoto ◽  
Toshio Ogihara ◽  
Masunori Matsuzaki ◽  
Hiromi Rakugi ◽  
Kazuyuki Shimada ◽  
...  

Background: In the trial known as COPE (Combination Therapy of Hypertension to Prevent Cardiovascular Events) three benidipine (a calcium channel blocker; CCB) regimens were compared. Hypertensive Japanese outpatients aged 40–85 years (n=3,293) who did not achieve the target blood pressure of <140/90 mmHg with benidipine 4 mg/day were treated with the diuretic thiazide (n=1,094) or a β-blocker (n=1,089) or an additional angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB; n=1,110). A significantly higher incidence of hard cardiovascular composite endpoints and of fatal or non-fatal strokes was observed in the benidipine-β-blocker group compared to the benidipine-thiazide group. Objective and Methods: We further evaluated the treatment effects of the three benidipine-based regimens on vascular and renal events in a sub-analysis of the COPE patients. Results: A total of 10 vascular events (0.8 per 1,000 person-years) including one aortic dissection (0.1 per 1,000 person-years) and nine cases of peripheral artery disease (0.8 per 1,000 person-years) were documented, as was a total of seven renal events (0.6 per 1,000 person-years). No significant differences in vascular and renal events were revealed among the three treatment groups: vascular events p=0.92 renal events p=0.16 log-rank test. Conclusions: Blood pressure-lowering therapy with benidipine combined with an ARB, β-blocker, or thiazide was similarly effective in the prevention of vascular and renal events in hypertensive outpatients, although there is no enough these events to compare the difference in the three treatment groups.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma Ağın

Background:Calcium Channel Blockers (CCBs) are widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular and ischemic heart diseases in recent years. They treat arrhythmias by reducing cardiac cycle contraction and also benefit ischemic heart diseases. Electroanalytical methods are very powerful analytical methods used in the pharmaceutical industry because of the determination of therapeutic agents and/or their metabolites in clinical samples at extremely low concentrations (10-50 ng/ml). The purpose of this review is to gather electroanalytical methods used for the determination of calcium channel blocker drugs in pharmaceutical dosage forms and biological media selected mainly from current articles.Methods:This review mainly includes recent determination studies of calcium channel blockers by electroanalytical methods from pharmaceutical dosage forms and biological samples. The studies of calcium channel blockers electroanalytical determination in the literature were reviewed and interpreted.Results:There are a lot of studies on amlodipine and nifedipine, but the number of studies on benidipine, cilnidipine, felodipine, isradipine, lercanidipine, lacidipine, levamlodipine, manidipine, nicardipine, nilvadipine, nimodipine, nisoldipine, nitrendipine, diltiazem, and verapamil are limited in the literature. In these studies, DPV and SWV are the most used methods. The other methods were used less for the determination of calcium channel blocker drugs.Conclusion:Electroanalytical methods especially voltammetric methods supply reproducible and reliable results for the analysis of the analyte. These methods are simple, more sensitive, rapid and inexpensive compared to the usually used spectroscopic and chromatographic methods.


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