β‑estradiol alleviates hypertension‑ and concanavalin A‑mediated inflammatory responses via modulation of connexins in peripheral blood lymphocytes.

β‑estradiol alleviates hypertension‑ and concanavalin A‑mediated inflammatory responses via modulation of connexins in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Mol Med Rep. 2019 Mar 14;: Authors: Ni X, Zhang L, Ma X, Shan LY, Li L, Si JQ, Li XZ, Zhang YY, Ma KT Abstract Gap junctions (GJs) formed by connexins (Cxs) in T lymphocytes have been reported to have important roles in the T lymphocyte‑driven inflammatory response and hypertension‑mediated inflammation. Estrogen has a protective effect on cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension and it attenuates excessive inflammatory responses in certain autoimmune diseases. However, the mechanisms involved in regulating the pro‑inflammatory response are complex and poorly understood. The current study investigated whether β‑estradiol suppresses hypertension and pro‑inflammatory stimuli‑mediated inflammatory responses by regulating Cxs and Cx‑mediated GJs in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Male, 16‑week‑old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar‑Kyoto rats (WKY) rats were randomly divided into the following three groups: WKY rats, vehicle (saline)‑treated SHRs, and β‑estradiol (20 µg/kg/day)‑treated SHRs. β‑estradiol was administered subcutaneously for 5 weeks. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was performed to evaluate target organ injury. Flow cytometry and ELISA were used to measure the populations of T lymphocyte subtypes in the peripheral...
Source: Molecular Medicine Reports - Category: Molecular Biology Tags: Mol Med Rep Source Type: research