Abstract

Iptakalim is a new ATP-sensitive potassium (K ATP) channel opener, and it inhibits the proliferation of pulmo-nary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) and pulmonary vascular remodeling. However, the underlying mech-anism remains unclear. In the present study, we found that iptakalim significantly decreased pulmonary artery pressure, inhibited pulmonary ariery remodeling and PKC-α overexpression in chronic hypoxia in a rat pulmonary hypertension model. Iptakalim reduced hypoxia-iduced expression of PKC-α, and abolished the effect of hypoxia on PASMC proliferation significantly in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. Moreover, these effects were abol-ished by glibenclamide, a selective K ATP channel antagonist. These results indicate that iptakalim inhibits PASMC proliferation and pulmonary vascular remodeling induced by hypoxia through downregulating the expression of PKC-α. Iptakalim can serve as a novel promising treatment for hypoxic pulmonary hypertension.

Highlights

  • Hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension is a common complication of residence at high altitudes and chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), various interstitial lung diseases, bronchiectasis, asthma, and sleep apnea[1,2]

  • 0 Hypoxia Ipt(μmol/L) Gli(μmol/L) -. Our results from both in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrated that hypoxia increased the expression of protein kinase C (PKC)-α in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) and promoted PASMC proliferation, which could be prevented by iptakalim

  • We found that iptakalim prevented hypoxia–induced pulmonary hypertension and vascular remodeling in rats, which may be due to suppressing the expression of PKC-α in PASMCs

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Summary

Introduction

Hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension is a common complication of residence at high altitudes and chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), various interstitial lung diseases, bronchiectasis, asthma, and sleep apnea[1,2]. Hypoxic pulmonary vascular structural remodeling is the key pathological basis of chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension[4,5], the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Numerous studies have demonstrated that hypoxiainduced abnormal proliferation of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) may be a key component of pulmonary vascular remodeling[6,7,8,9]. PKC-α is widely expressed and plays important roles in several cellular processes and pathologies, involving cancer, cardiovascular disorders, atherogenesis, thrombosis and pulmonary disease. Previous works suggested that PKC-α was closely associated with the abnormal proliferation of PASMCs and pulmonary vascular remodeling induced by cigarette smoking[13] or hypoxia[14,15]. The expression of PKC-α was significantly increased in the lung tissues from idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension patients[16]

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