Leptin-induced increase in blood pressure and markers of endothelial activation during pregnancy in Sprague Dawley rats is prevented by resibufogenin, a marinobufagenin antagonist.

Leptin-induced increase in blood pressure and markers of endothelial activation during pregnancy in Sprague Dawley rats is prevented by resibufogenin, a marinobufagenin antagonist. Reprod Biol. 2020 Apr 03;: Authors: Hassan MJM, Bakar NS, Aziz MA, Basah NK, Singh HJ Abstract Levels of leptin and marinobufagenin (MBG), a cardiotonic steroid, are elevated in the serum of women with pre-eclampsia. Besides this, leptin administration to pregnant rats increases systolic blood pressure (SBP), urinary protein excretion and serum markers of endothelial activation. The link between leptin and MBG is unknown and it is also unclear if leptin-induced increases in blood pressure and proteinuria in the pregnant rat could be prevented by an MBG antagonist. To ascertain this link, this study investigated the effect of resibufogenin (RBG), a marinobufagenin antagonist, on leptin-induced increases in blood pressure and proteinuria during pregnancy in rats. Four groups of Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 12 weeks, were given either normal saline (CONTROL) or 120 μg/kg/day of leptin (LEP), or 120 μg/kg/day of leptin+30 μg/kg/day of resibufogenin (L + RBG) or 30 μg/kg/day of resibufogenin (RBG) from Day 1-20 of pregnancy. Systolic blood pressure and urinary protein excretion (UPE) were measured during the study period. Animals were euthanized on day 21 of pregnancy and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, (VCAM-1), soluble intracellular cell adhesion molecule...
Source: Reproductive Biology - Category: Reproduction Medicine Authors: Tags: Reprod Biol Source Type: research