Rats were treated for 5 weeks with: control-vehicle, control-GW0742 (5 or 20 mg kg(-1) day(-1)),
DOCA-vehicle, DOCA-GW0742 (5 or 20 mg kg(-1) day(-1)), DOCA-GSK0660 (1 mg kg(-1) day(-1)), and DOCA-GSK0660-GW0742. Rats receiving
DOCA-vehicle showed increased systolic blood pressure, left ventricular and kidney weight indices,
endothelin-1 (ET-1), and
malondialdehyde plasma levels, urinary iso-PGF2α excretion, impaired endothelium-dependent relaxation to
acetylcholine, and contraction to ET-1 when compared with controls. Aortic
reactive oxygen species content,
NADPH oxidase activity, and p47(
phox), p22(
phox), NOX-4,
glutathione peroxidase 1, hemeoxygenase-1, and preproET-1 expression were increased, whereas
catalase and regulators of
G protein-coupled signalling
proteins (RGS)5 expression were decreased in the
DOCA-vehicle group.
GW0742 prevented the development of
hypertension in a dose-dependent manner but the reduction of renal and
cardiac hypertrophy, systemic and vascular oxidative stress markers, and improvement of endothelial dysfunction were only observed after the higher dose.
GW0742, at 20 mg kg(-1) day(-1), attenuated ET-1 contraction by increasing RGS5 expression and restored the intracellular redox balance by reducing
NADPH-oxidase activity, and by increasing the
antioxidant genes expression. The
PPAR-β antagonist
GSK0660 prevented all vascular changes induced by
GW0742 but not its
antihypertensive effects.
CONCLUSION: Vascular protective effects of
GW0742 operate via
PPAR-β by interference with the ET-1 signalling as a result of increased expression of RGS5 and up-regulation of
antioxidant genes and via
PPAR-β-independent mechanisms to decrease blood pressure.