Effect of hepatocyte growth factor and angiotensin II on rat cardiomyocyte hypertrophy

Chen, Ai-Lan; Ou, Cai-Wen; He, Zhao-Chu; Liu, Qi-Cai; Dong, Qi; Chen, Min-Sheng

Angiotensin II (Ang II), the central product of the reninwww.bjournal.com.br Braz J Med Biol Res 45(12) 2012 angiotensin system, is believed to be one of the most important regulators of the initiation of a positive feedback regulation of the cardiac hypertrophic response (4). In cultured cardiomyocytes, Ang II was shown to directly induce the gene expression of β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) and atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) (4) and also increase protein synthesis and protein content (5) through the activation of angiotensin receptor I. More detailed mechanisms have been described in recent years, including involvement with mitochondrial oxidative stress (6), autophagy (7, 8) , p70-S6 protein kinase (9), nitric oxide (10), focal adhesion kinase (11) , and AMP-activated protein kinase (12, 13) . In fact, in addition to Ang II, large numbers of intracellular or extracellular factors affect cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in vivo (14) . Moreover, the influence of these factors on Ang II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy is largely unknown.