ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Medica 2015 February;106(1):9-16

Copyright © 2015 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Comparison of Calycosin and Irbesartan for their impact on renin angiotensin system in human umbilical vein endothelial cell

Li X. L. ¹, Song R. X. ², Lin X. ¹, Ma R. X. ¹, Bai F. ¹, Yu J. ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Cardiology, The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China; ² The First Department of Clinical Care Medicine, The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

AIM: The aim of this paper was to compare the efficacy of in vitro calycosin and irbesartan for the treatment of angiotensin II (AngII)-induced renin angiotensin system (RAS) disorder in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).
METHODS: Cultured HUVECs were randomly divided into several groups: control, AngII 1×10-6 mol) alone, Ang II (1×10-6 mol) plus calycosin (0.1, 1, 10 mg/L) and Ang II (1×10-6 mol) plus Irbesartan (10 μmol). Morphology of vascular endothelial cells was studied by using a light microscope with hematoxylin and eosin double staining. Changes in both protein and gene expression of Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) were detected by immunohistochemistry analysis and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) techniques, respectively.
RESULTS: In comparison to control, AngII significantly promoted both protein and gene expressions of ACE while inhibited those of ACE2 in HUVECs. Interestingly, Calycosin was able to inhibit the effect of AngII in a concentration dependent manner, and its effect at concentration of 35 μmol was equal to that of positive control Irbesartan (10μmol).
CONCLUSION: Calycosin from Radix Astragali from Gansu province could protect HUVECs from AngII induced RAS disorder by downregulation of ACE expression and increased ACE2 expression, which is similar to irbesartan. These results suggest that calycosin may be a promising candidate for treatment of endothelial dysfunction.