Correlation between the expression of Drp1 in vascular endothelial cells and inflammatory factors in hypertension rats

The objective of this study was to investigate the expression level of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) in vascular endothelium of hypertension rats and its correlation with expression of inflammatory factors. Twenty spontaneous hypertension rats (SHR) were randomly divided into SHR group (n=10) and inhibition group (MD group, n=10), and the Sprague Dawley rats were enrolled as the control group (C group, n=10). For rats in the MD group, Mdivi-1, a mitochondrial division inhibitor, was given in dosage of 25 mg/kg. After 4 weeks of administration, blood pressure was measured via tail-artery blood pressure measurement. The blood samples collected from the abdominal aorta of rats were used to assay the C-reaction protein (CRP) concentration in serum through radioimmunoassay. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed for sections of thoracic aorta for morphological observation and measurement of medial thickness. Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), semi-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting was carried out for detecting the expression levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Drp1 and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1). After 4 weeks of drug administration, the blood pressure in the MD group was significantly higher (P<0.01). The medial thickness of the thoracic aorta in the MD group was significantly decreased in comparison with the SHR group (P<0.01). The results of ELISA showed that compared with the SHR group, the expression levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in the MD group were remarkably decreased (P<0.01). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR results indicated that the mRNA expression levels of Drp1 and MCP-1 in the MD group were significantly lower than those in the SHR group (P<0.05). In the SHR rats, after administration of Mdivi-1, the expression of Drp1 is decreased, which contributes to the alleviation in inflammatory reactions and protects the vessels in SHR rats.