Influence of β-elemene on the secretion of angiotensin II and expression of AT1R in hepatic stellate cells

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the influence of β-elemene on the secretion of angiotensin II (ANG II) and the expression of angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT1R) in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). In vitro, HSC-T6 were cultured for 24 hours and then treated with different doses of β-elemene (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/L). A control group was also set up. The secretion of ANG II in the supernatant was detected by radioimmunoassay. The mRNA expression of AT1R at 4, 12 and 24 h after treatment was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. The protein expression of AT1R was detected by western blot. At the 4th h, the ANG II secretion in the supernatant was significantly inhibited by 10 mg/L β-elemene compared with the control group (P<0.05), while 5.0 mg/L and 2.5 mg/L β-elemene had no inhibitory effect on the secretion of ANG II (P>0.05). At the time point of the 12th h, the secretion of ANG II in the supernatant treated with 10 mg/L and 5.0 mg/L β-elemene was significantly lower than the control (P<0.01, P<0.05). Following the treatment with 5.0 mg/L and 2.5 mg/L β-elemene for 24 h, significant inhibition of ANG II secretion was observed (P<0.05), but 10 mg/L β-elemene had no such effect. β-elemene significantly reduced the amount of AT1R mRNA in HSCs after the treatment for 4, 12, and 24 h in a dose-dependent manner. The expression of AT1R protein also decreased after the treatment with β-elemene for 24 h. β-elemene can inhibit the secretion of ANG II and the gene and protein expression of AT1R, which may be the mechanism by which β-elemene prevents the progress of hepatic fibrosis.

Keywords

liver cirrhosis / beta-elemene / hepatic stellate cells / angiotensin II / receptor, angiotensin, type 1

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30500658).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg