Eucommia ulmoidesOliv. (Du-Zhong) Lignans Inhibit Angiotensin II-Stimulated Proliferation by Affecting P21, P27, and Bax Expression in Rat Mesangial Cells
Cortex Eucommiae (Du-zhong) is the dried bark of theEucommia ulmoidesOliv. The natural products identified fromDu-zhonginclude lignans, iridoids, flavonoids, polysaccharides, terpenes, and proteins, Liu et al. (2012). Lignans, the main bioactive components, were protective against hypertensive renal injury in spontaneous hypertensive rats in our previous study, Li et al. (2012). Moreover,Eucommialignans also diminished aldose reductase (AR) overexpression in the kidney, Li et al. (2012). However, the pathological mechanism underlying the protective effects ofEucommialignans remains unknown. Cellular proliferation was reported to contribute to important pathological changes in hypertensive renal injuries, and increased angiotensin II (Ang II) expression was reported to be essential for target-organ damage during hypertension. Ang II is the main effective peptide in the renin-angiotensin system and is considered to be a key mediator in the development of hypertensive nephropathy, Rüster and Wolf (2011). Our preliminary results showed thatEucommialignans had inhibitory effects on Ang II-induced proliferation of rat mesangial cells. In the present study, we investigated the effects ofEucommia ulmoideson Ang II-induced proliferation and apoptosis of rat mesangial cells. Cell cycle-related genes P21 and P27, and cell apoptosis-related genes Bax and Bcl-2, were determined.