Quercetin reverses experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension by modulating the TrkA pathway.

Abstract

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by excessive proliferation, resistance to apoptosis, and increased migration of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs). We hypothesized that quercetin exerts protective effects against this disease; thus, a chronic hypoxia model of PAH was generated using male Sprague-Dawley rats, which were treated with quercetin. In this model, quercetin prevented the development of PAH, right ventricular hypertrophy, and vascular remodeling after exposure to hypoxia. Quercetin inhibited PASMC proliferation and increased the apoptosis of PASMCs in vivo. In vitro, quercetin significantly inhibited hypoxia-induced PASMC proliferation, arrested cells in G1/G0 and inhibited cell migration in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, our results showed that quercetin increased cyclin D1 protein levels and decreased the protein expression of cyclin B1 and Cdc2. Additionally, quercetin altered the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and reduced MMP2, MMP9, CXCR4, integrin β1, and integrin α5 expression. Using genome-wide microarray analysis, we found that factors regulating proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, and migration were related to the tyrosine receptor kinase A (TrkA) pathway. In addition, activation of the TrkA/AKT signaling cascade during hypoxia was inhibited by quercetin in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, quercetin alone inhibited the TrkA/AKT signaling pathway, resulting in decreased PASMC migration, cell cycle arrest and the induction of apoptosis. Our data suggest that quercetin is a potential candidate for the treatment of hypoxia-induced PAH.

• Authors: Yuanzhou He, Xiaopei Cao, Xiansheng Liu, Xiaochen Li, Yongjian Xu, Jin Liu, Jing Shi
• Journal: Experimental cell research (Exp Cell Res) Vol. 339 Issue 1 Pg. 122-34 (Nov 15 2015) ISSN: 1090-2422 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 26476374 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Antioxidants
• RNA, Messenger
• Quercetin
• Receptor, trkA
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt

Topics

• Animals
• Antioxidants (pharmacology)
• Apoptosis
• Blotting, Western
• Cell Cycle
• Cell Movement
• Cell Proliferation
• Cells, Cultured
• Hypertension, Pulmonary (etiology, metabolism, prevention & control)
• Hypertrophy, Right Ventricular (etiology, metabolism, prevention & control)
• Hypoxia (complications, physiopathology)
• Immunoenzyme Techniques
• Male
• Muscle, Smooth, Vascular (drug effects, metabolism, pathology)
• Phosphorylation (drug effects)
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt (genetics, metabolism)
• Pulmonary Artery (drug effects, metabolism, pathology)
• Quercetin (pharmacology)
• RNA, Messenger (genetics)
• Rats
• Rats, Sprague-Dawley
• Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Receptor, trkA (genetics, metabolism)
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Signal Transduction (drug effects)