β-Catenin-Dependent Signaling Pathway Contributes to Renal Fibrosis in Hypertensive Rats

Abstract

The mechanism of hypertension-induced renal fibrosis is not well understood, although it is established that high levels of angiotensin II contribute to the effect. Sinceβ-catenin signal transduction participates in fibrotic processes, we evaluated the contribution ofβ-catenin-dependent signaling pathway in hypertension-induced renal fibrosis. Two-kidney one-clip (2K1C) hypertensive rats were treated with lisinopril (10 mg/kg/day for four weeks) or with pyrvinium pamoate (Wnt signaling inhibitor, single dose of 60 ug/kg, every 3 days for 2 weeks). The treatment with lisinopril reduced the systolic blood pressure from 220 ± 4 in 2K1C rats to 112 ± 5 mmHg (P<0.05), whereas the reduction in blood pressure with pyrvinium pamoate was not significant (212 ± 6 in 2K1C rats to 170 ± 3 mmHg,P>0.05). The levels of collagen types I and III, osteopontin, and fibronectin decreased in the unclipped kidney in both treatments compared with 2K1C rats. The expressions ofβ-catenin, p-Ser9-GSK-3beta, and theβ-catenin target genes cyclin D1, c-myc, and bcl-2 significantly decreased in unclipped kidney in both treatments (P<0.05). In this study we provided evidence thatβ-catenin-dependent signaling pathway participates in the renal fibrosis induced in 2K1C rats.