Elucidation of significance of vascular CNP-GC-B system in vascular integrity and pathology

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670400
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cardiovascular medicine
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kuwahara Koichiro 京都大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 講師 (30402887)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ナトリウム利尿ペプチド / 血管内皮 / 血圧

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we studied the role of vascular CNP-GC-B system in vascular homeostasis. We generated vascular endothelial cell-specific CNP knockout (CNP ecKO) mice and measured blood pressures in these CNP ecKO mice. CNP ecKO mice showed significantly higher blood pressure than control mice. In CNP ecKO, endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation was impaired and endothelial expression of vasoconstrictive endothelin-1 was increased. By contrast, vascular smooth muscle cell-specific GC-B knockout (GC-B smcKO) mice exhibited blood pressures similar to control mice, and acetylcholine-induced vasorelaxation was preserved. These results demonstrate that endothelium-derived CNP contributes to the chronic regulation of vascular tone and systemic blood pressure by maintaining endothelial function independently of vascular smooth muscle GC-B.

Free Research Field

分子循環器学