Islet transplantation attenuates cardiac fibrosis in diabetic rats through inhibition of TGF- β1/Smad3 pathway.

Islet transplantation attenuates cardiac fibrosis in diabetic rats through inhibition of TGF-β1/Smad3 pathway. Am J Transl Res. 2018;10(8):2445-2456 Authors: Wang HW, Chen YH, Chen YY, Huang W, Zhu XD, Ni FB, Wu GD, Xu ZQ, Huang ZQ, Chen BC, Xiao FY Abstract Although islet transplantation has been identified as a promising endocrine replacement treatment for patient with diabetes mellitus (DM), it still remains unclear whether islet transplantation can inhibit the diabetic-induced myocardial injury and subsequent adverse ventricular remodeling. Here, we sought to explore the molecular mechanism underlying the cardioprotective effect of islet transplantation. We established the diabetic rat model by intraperitoneal injection of STZ, which was followed by either islet transplantation or conventional insulin treatment. Compared with insulin treatment, islet transplantation further reduced the elevated blood glucose which was nearly restored to normoglycaemia. In addition, islet transplantation attenuated the increased levels of cTn-I and CK-MB, cleaved-caspase-3 in response to DM, and ameliorated diabetic-induced cardiac hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis, along with improved extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition. Moreover, diabetic rats that underwent islet transplantation had lower expression of TGF-β1 and lower phosphorylation levels of Smad3. Therefore, islet transplantation exerted protective effect against diabetic-induced my...
Source: American Journal of Translational Research - Category: Research Tags: Am J Transl Res Source Type: research